Temptation

I discovered something about myself this last week. I discovered that I can sit in front of a bowl of potato chips – TWO bowls, actually – that I desperately want and I CAN choose NOT to eat one.

Not. Even. One.

I was at a friend’s house and snacks had been put out, including the aforementioned potato chips (in two delectable flavors) as well as snack crackers and one lovely bowl of celery, which, in all its pristine, healthful goodness, did not attract my interest whatsoever. The conversation that evening was intense and heavy, and had absolutely nothing to do with my eating issues, but there they were, demanding my attention in spite of the serious discussion underway, and those two little bowls of potato chips were there to exacerbate the situation, mocking me from the coffee table.

The briefest lull in conversation left my mind to momentarily fixate on my desperate desire for a taste of crispy, salty spud heaven. The celery waved its little celery-stalk arms to attract my attention away from the evil flavored tater extravaganza as I found myself justifying just one – or maybe one of each flavor. Or maybe just a broken chip of each flavor…that’s okay, right? I mean, seriously, how many calories are in a broken chip?

It was difficult. Excruciatingly difficult. Embarrassingly excruciatingly difficult. I mean they are POTATO CHIPS for goodness sake!!! Yeeeeah. I know. But anybody else been there? Maybe for you it’s NOT a potato chip or a cheesecake, but maybe it’s:

• a Coach purse you can’t really afford
• those shoes you shouldn’t buy
• that third drink you know you shouldn’t have (or that FIRST drink you know you shouldn’t have)
• that movie you really shouldn’t watch or that book you should avoid
• that comment you shouldn’t make
• that tidbit of gossip you should keep to yourself.  

Temptation is powerful, and it doesn’t matter what it is that lures you in, when desire collides with the verboten, if you choose to resist, you are in for a battle.

When it comes to food, it’s a battle I’d forgotten I was even capable of fighting, much less winning.

In my battle of the bulge, I’ve discovered that my brain goes into justification mode before I even realize that I am in the middle of something.
     I rationalize - how many calories could possibly be in that potato chip crumb?

     I make deals with myself - I will walk more tomorrow to make up for it

     I downplay the significance of the decision at hand - Is eating a potato
        chip really the end of the world?. 

 

Obviously, taken at face value, those seem like legitimate arguments. But they miss the real issue.

 

The issue is not that we’ve chosen to eat that potato chip, or piece of cake, or [insert food you feel powerless to resist], but rather that we’ve (temporarily) lost the ability to make a choice at all – when you consistently just “give in” to whatever craving comes your way, “giving in” becomes a habit – one that is desperately difficult to break.

 

I had become so accustomed to simply caving to my appetite, I was completely out of practice and gave in out of habit as much as a sense of powerlessness.

 

No one knew more about temptation than Jesus. And no one can possibly better understand the temptation of food. 

 

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:1-4

 

My potato chip dilemma is pretty pathetic by comparison. After 40 days of fasting, the hunger had to have been absolutely agonizing. And yet Jesus resisted Satan’s suggestion that He call upon His divine power to make the trial easier on himself.  Jesus recognized that the issue was greater than His hunger and whether or not he would choose to supernaturally produce the food that would satiate it.  The issue was obedience. And although Jesus was (and is) divine, He was also very human and there was most assuredly a battle raging within His humanity. How did He withstand it? He rejected the lies (rationalization, etc.) and chose instead to speak truth out of Scripture.

 

When we face temptation with food, we can be absolutely confident that Jesus has walked in our shoes - even in this - and He truly understands the battle that rages within as we struggle with those choices. C. S. Lewis, in his book Mere Christianity, explains:

 

Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means—the only complete realist (p 125).

 

In the days since the potato chip incident, I have begun to rediscover my will and the power of Scriptural truth in the face of temptation. Each time I choose a healthy choice over an unhealthy one, I perpetuate a new habit – a habit of self-control. I am discovering that self-control is not only possible, but invigorating, and I’ve discovered that when my will is weak, I can - and desperately need to - depend on the power of prayer to keep me strong.

 

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13