Whack-A-Mole

For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Romans 7:22-24

Do you remember that old arcade game, Whack-a-mole? If you don’t, little animatronic moles pop up and your job is to ‘whack’ them back down with a foam mallet. You stand there ready to whack any tiny head that pops up as quickly as you can. But sometimes, they come 2 and 3 at a time, and it feels impossible to get all of them taken care of. Before you know it, you’re in trouble and the game has been lost.

Sometimes, my battle to live a Christ-like life feels like a bit of a whack-a-mole game. Temptations and sinful thoughts pop up everywhere I turn, and the sheer quantity of them seem ready to overwhelm me. Yesterday was one of those days. I struggled to keep it together. I was shocked at my quickness to anger, my frustration level, and even a few of the things that came out of my mouth. It made me think of the 7th chapter of Romans when Paul is discussing how badly he wants to do the right thing, but continually finds himself doing the wrong, and vice-versa. We are two-fold beings, as Christians, with our carnal flesh constantly fighting the Spirit-filled inner man. My sinful nature seems to rear its head at the most inopportune moments. Of course, that’s when enemies attack: when we’re distracted, when we’re tired, when we aren’t at our best.

So, what do we do? Give up? Do we just resign ourselves to the fact that we can’t be perfect, so we might as well just stop trying? Of course not. We humble ourselves, repent (again) and move forward, continuing to strive to ignore those temptations, and mold ourselves to become ever-more Christ-like. I love that Paul reminds the Phillipians in the 3rd chapter that if we continue to press toward the mark, and be humble, that God will reveal any areas in which we need to change, with His help.

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Phillipians 3:14-15

We are so blessed to serve a God, that not only is all powerful and all-knowing, but one that understands us deeply. Christ came to earth and allowed Himself to experience humanity, so that He could know what we feel and how we experience life. He ‘gets it’. We can go to Him and be completely honest with how life is affecting us, and know that not only is He willing to help us conquer every temptation.

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:15

So, how do we prepare in a way that we can be ready for battle against all those nasty little sinful beasts that tend to pop up and surprise us unawares? The most important thing we can do is know our stuff. When Christ was tempted, He replied each time with, “It is written” followed by a quote from scripture. In the 3rd chapter of Ephesians, Paul prayed that the Ephesians would understand the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of Christ’s love, so that we might be filled with the fulness of the Spirit. Friends, battling those pesky little annoyances in life, doesn’t have to bring us to our knees. We don’t have to worry about ‘losing the game’. We’ve already won, we’re more than conquerors through Christ Jesus, we just need to tap in to that source of endless love and knowledge and allow Him to do His work of sanctification in our lives.