Temptation!!
(The devil)
At the church office (again)...sitting in the corner of the main office ...listening to "Freedom United" music on my phone. I love this place..Hard-working folks. It is ministry on steroids ...people coming and going... Phones normally ringing off the hook. A polite office staff every time.
Side fact: You know some folks can call this place five times in one day!! ...Sometimes about facts that were in every bulletin on Sunday morning:)....Just a well observed fact!!!:) Shared all in fun.
Everybody is gearing up for "Freedom United" amongst all their other weekly duties. Chris is right now meeting with one of our faithful families preparing for the funeral of their loving father. It is heart-breaking. These are moments I love my husband most..he NEVER hesitates in a ministry opportunity...he loves people with a heart that only God can give...You can't fake his kindness ..it would be exposed in these times....It only comes from a heart surrendered to the Lord. These are also moments I am glad there is a roast in the crockpot for my hard-working fella.
I love Ministry. I love doing it right here at Lee Park Baptist Church. My kids love it. Chris leaving TV and surrendering to the call of ministry has made everything line up for us. Marriage is better. We work harder. I buy less shoes.
I love life!!!
How then can I still be tempted to sin daily? Knowing and proclaiming the sacrifice of Christ. How can I be so happy and blessed...love serving God in the local church AND still be tempted to sin? I have no idea(on my own) ..my chief frustration (on my own).....
Thankfully, I have God's Word to explain :
I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Romans 7:15-25 ESV)
Never have I struggled with temptation more than in the ministry. Never have I been convicted more of sin. (Praise the Lord). My guess is.. I was just giving in to it before then.
Never have I been more resolved to follow Jesus!
Never have I felt the keeping...pursuing ....hand of the Lord ...producing endurance and perseverance in me. No sin has "overtaken" me.
Becky:)
