Living the gospel is hard. The scope and importance of the work that is available to do is immense. After all "the field is white already to harvest." Us laborers can get overwhelmed pretty easily. For myself, as a child i quickly accepted that it was right and important for me to serve my fellow men. I would strive with all the diligence I could muster to follow God's commandments.
Then I would get tired. And when I was tired, a little voice would whisper in my head: "you've done so much today, you've been a fruitful servant, why don't you indulge just a little. Turn on the t.v., turn off your brain, play a computer game, eat a little extra dessert, etc.
The funnel here is that the devil tries to teach your brain that striving should be "rewarded" by indulging. If you buy that lie, then you strive in the gospel, even in the highest and holiest of activities, with a growing portion of your brain looking forward to your own personal indulgence. Eventually, your focus on indulging locks the Spirit out of your heart, and your striving becomes empty and draining.
Indulging has cut you off from the Spirit.
I'd love to hear your alternatives to the Strive/Indulgence cycle.
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I don't know that I've really considered this pattern before but I do it all the time. The better I do the more tempted I am to indulge in my favorite little sins. I'll have to give this some more thought.
ReplyDeleteIt does remind me of a story about a hunter who shot two ducks; killing one but only wounding the other. When the dog jumped into the water and started swimming after the dead duck the hunter yelled, "No! not that one, get the one that's getting away."
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