Fleeting Urges

I had a teacher in high school that was famous for fleeting urges. She would share them with us. Crazy, off the wall things that were dangerous and/or hilarious. Dangling her feet while high in the air. Somersaults from great heights. Things that no one in their right mind would try.

My wife, Jamy, had one on the way home from church recently. She saw a field of corn (on private property) and wondered out loud if it would be wrong to stop and grab a few ears.

I had one of my own last week.

I was grill pork steaks over charcoal, so I had the long lighter out on the deck with me. Just for a split second, I had this thought…

What would happen if I tossed this thing in the lit grill?

Obviously, nothing I would ever really do. But I was easily able to imagine what would happen, and actually found myself evaluating the risks involved.

How big WOULD the explosion be

Would the trees ACTUALLY catch on fire?

How far away IS the fire extinguisher?

I chose not to give in to whatever-that-was. But for a minute there, I weighed the options.

Sin, at its most basic, is a fleeting urge (if sin is not a fleeting issue, there may be bigger issues in your life). It’s a compulsion from within our Adamic, sinful nature against which we have to guard. And just like my internal pros-and-cons dialogue, we need to decide to do what is right.

Now, in my grill situation, I had a pretty good idea of the consequences of my whim: big badda boom. We as believers and followers of Christ need to be deep in the Word of God and sensitive to the Holy Spirit to be able to guard against sins that tend to pop up out of nowhere.

Also, we need to not be so prideful as to think that we won’t be caught off guard by sin. No one is impervious to the power of sin. We all have issues and the potential to have issues. Knowing this and accepting this will enable us to set up protective hedges in our lives to head these sins off at the pass.

Another reason why sin seemingly shows up out of nowhere is because the Devil is real and he is tricky! 1 Peter 5:8-9 says, Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. So, when confronted by sin, Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

Sin is much more deadly than lighter fluid. Watch out.