Tag: Temptation

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Meditation

Do You Have Any Boulders in Your Path?

TRANSCRIPT:

I was thinking this week that here we are in Lent, and everybody’s focused on sacrifice and breaking those attachments that we have to things of the world. And it occurred to me in kind of a vision of how we stand between God, what those sacrifices are really trying to do. And we’ve got this plain in front of us littered with rocks; some, small pebbles, some, enormous boulders that cast shadows on us that we could be completely obscured from the light by. And those boulders represent our serious attachments to things of this world that prevent us from fully experiencing the light or the grace of God.

And so when we’re sacrificing, when we’re giving something up, what we’re doing is trying to uproot that rock, that boulder, not only so that it’s not a stumbling block for us in terms of our salvation, but so that by removing that rock- that boulder- we can experience more fully the grace of God, we can immerse ourselves in grace. And that basic vision- I know it’s terribly simplistic, even childish, but it’s really helped me to kind of ask myself to look at the field of my life that exists in front of me like a long plain between me and a sunrise or a sunset, and ask myself: “What boulders exist there that are casting shadows on me, that are stopping me from receiving all the grace that God wants to give me?”

I hope this is helpful for you. I hope it brings some perspective, and if nothing else, maybe you can share it with your children.

Categories
Meditation

A Gunman In Church

TRANSCRIPT:

Recently here in Nashville, we had a bombing on Christmas day. In fact, you may have heard something about that- a suicide bomb, basically. We still don’t know exactly why. But that bombing took down a lot of communications, and it also put people on edge. They wondered, “Is this the beginning of a round of violence? Is this the beginning of another series of people showing up at churches, and opening fire on people while they’re praying?” And consequently, we’ve had a lot of people start open carrying at church. We’ve had people, of course, concealed carrying.

And as I was at adoration, I was thinking about what would happen if I was there at adoration- oftentimes there’s just two or three of us- and someone broke in and started firing? And I could see myself ducking down for the ground, maybe doing a low crawl to try and get out of there, maybe having to stand up and run for the nearest exit to try to get away from the gunman. And I thought about that. Why would I run? I would be running just on instinct to save my life, to avoid death.

And yet, it occurred to me that most of us- certainly myself- don’t take that same approach to sin. I don’t flee from sin as if it was my life on the line, and yet, it is my life on the line, right? Even that single venial sin starts to form a foundation for other venial sins and eventually for those mortal sins that can destroy the soul.

And that image of running from the gunman in church but failing to flee the near occasion of sin- whether it’s having an extra drink at the end of the night, whether it’s having seconds at the dinner table, whether it’s failing to give of my excess to those who are in need, or failing to live up to the highest plan that God has for me in my life as a husband and father- I’m shirking my responsibilities. I’m fleeing, but not from sin. And that image really stuck with me. It’s given me a lot to think about, and so I wanted to share it with you today. I hope that it’s profoundly beneficial for you as well. God bless.

Categories
Meditation

Know Your Enemy and When You Must Flee

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey gentlemen, Jeff here, and my insight for the week is this: Habits that we have acquired slowly and over a long period of time can be quickly lost if we abandon them. I thought about this when I was giving a talk to some fellow men about the problem of sexual temptation and lust and dealing with pornography and sexual sins. And one of the things that I told the men that I think is critical when dealing with this kind of temptation is just to flee from it immediately. As soon as that thought comes into your mind, as soon as that temptation, that illicit desire, pops up- as soon as you recognize it, that very instant- you have to flee from it.

And we have the example of the saints who have run outside and thrown themselves into the snow or the saints who ran and threw themselves into a great big bush of thorns as a way of combating the sins of the flesh. But after I gave this talk and I was reflecting on some of those principles, it occurred to me that we need to have the same kind of revulsion and the same kind of instant rejection of any temptation, whether it’s pride or laziness or a lack of charity or intemperance towards food or drink or greed (and greed doesn’t mean that we’re a billionaire trying to acquire more greed, it could be just the desire for anything that’s really not necessary for our state), or it can be jealousy or envy or anger.

So, whatever our prominent faults are, whatever those vices are that we struggle with, we really need to develop this instant revulsion so that as soon as we see that gossip pop up or we’re talking about someone and we don’t need to be- and the person we’re talking to has no  legitimate need for that information- as soon as that happens, you need to flee from that. And so this is something I’ve been thinking about and trying to develop this sensitivity to it in my own life- this immediate revulsion for our vices.

I hope that sharing this with you has been helpful in some way, and I hope you have a great day.