Me vs The Raisins

I was trying to open a box of raisins when I ran into trouble.  Opening the box itself wasn't too much trouble in and of itself.  Getting the bag that contains the raisins open was quite another thing.  While standing in front of the cabinet from which I had fetched the box of dried fruit I was woefully out of position to wrestle with that pesky bag.  So after a half a minute of futility I reconvened my wrestling match on the island counter in the middle of the kitchen.  Now I could master that bag... or so I thought.

Seconds turned to minutes.  Minutes seemed to multiply out of control but no amount of regripping could get me the leverage I needed to open the bag.  I thought, "I am not going to be out muscled by some industrial glue."  So I stood there and struggled for 5 to 10 minutes with no success.  But deep in the back of my mind was the nagging thought, "Right there below the countertop is the drawer with the kitchen scissors.  Just get them out and cut the bag open."  I resisted.  It was too easy.  It would mean admitting defeat.  My pride would not let me.  So I didn't.  I just stood there struggling futilely.

After a couple more minutes and a trip or two to the kitchen towel to dry off my fingers I finally relented.  The bag had won.  So I reluctantly opened the drawer in front of me and took out the scissors.  Amazingly in less than a second the bag was open.  It was just that simple.

And this is a fitting story to explain how we often struggle with sin.  You and I are as powerless to overcome it as I was to open that bag.  Yet we still try to do it on our own.  And the sad part is the grace of God, which will assure us of victory is as accessible as the scissors in the drawer of the island.  More accessible.  Grace is there in an instant.  Ready to be used.  Free of charge.  Yet our pride won't let us.  We want to best the opponent on our own.  Yet we fail miserably time after time.  What a sad state we live in.  Why not just give up and let God fight the battle for you?  Victory is guaranteed with Jesus.  1 Corinthians 15:57 says, "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."  Friend, the best thing to do is give up and let God do His work in you.  Spiritual victory is not about struggling but about submitting.  Surrender to Jesus and let Him win the battle for you.

Physical Freedom

Frisky and I go jogging almost every morning and each day we pass by a house with the garage door half open.  Inside you can see a man sitting in his lawn chair smoking a cigarette.  He seems to be a rather nice fellow and shouts out his greeting unreservedly.  But what strikes me is that he never moves from there.  He is a little over weight and clearly under exercised.  A little fresh air would do him some good but I don't get the impression that he has the energy to get out.  I never see him outside.  He just sits there for long periods of time looking out the half open door and smokes.

So as I pass him every day I get to thinking about freedom.  Not the political kind, the physical kind.  This man is free to do whatever he wants but the state of his health will not permit it.  So I ask myself, who of the two of us are really free?  I am free to go out and run 3-5 miles whenever I like.  He, like many others, can only dream of running even around the block.  Who, I ask again, is really free physically?

Forgive me if you do not agree with my opinion but I do not feel that it is God's plan for humanity to smoke.  I have taken a lot of flack as a minister for taking such a hard line stance on tobacco.  Admittedly it is fairly hard line.  "A Christian," they say, "should be free to choose whether they will smoke or not."  And they are.  But am I being unkind in urging others to be free of those things that enslave them?  We all know tobacco will squeeze the life out of you once it has you in it's grasp.  But it also won't let you out of it's grasp either.  So I return to my question yet again.  Who is really free?  He who can go out and enjoy the out of doors as he pleases, or he who is stuck in his smoking chair?

John 8:36 "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."