Surprised by Joy
April 18, 2024
The Wooden Indian
May 09, 2018
For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts …But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed … Romans 6:10-12, 17
It’s impossible to tempt a wooden Indian.
Years ago, when I was a pastor in North Carolina, I would sometime travel to the town of Cherokee, a Native American community. Right in the middle of downtown, there was a wooden statue of an Indian.
Once I got to pondering. What if someone tried to lure the wooden Indian back into the hills to make moonshine whiskey? What if a tempter suggested they go over the mountain to Gatlinburg, and rob a bank?
The wooden Indian would be unfazed by the temptations because the statue is as dead as, well, a chunk of wood chopped off its tree. It’s impossible to tempt something that’s dead.
When we receive Christ our born-again spirit, the spiritual heart, is dead to sin. The mind, will and emotions are still vulnerable. But as we learn to respond to temptation through the spirit, the temptation just can’t get through.
TODAY’S HEART FOCUS
Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you how to respond to temptation in the spirit, and not in the flesh.
Years ago, when I was a pastor in North Carolina, I would sometime travel to the town of Cherokee, a Native American community. Right in the middle of downtown, there was a wooden statue of an Indian.
Once I got to pondering. What if someone tried to lure the wooden Indian back into the hills to make moonshine whiskey? What if a tempter suggested they go over the mountain to Gatlinburg, and rob a bank?
The wooden Indian would be unfazed by the temptations because the statue is as dead as, well, a chunk of wood chopped off its tree. It’s impossible to tempt something that’s dead.
When we receive Christ our born-again spirit, the spiritual heart, is dead to sin. The mind, will and emotions are still vulnerable. But as we learn to respond to temptation through the spirit, the temptation just can’t get through.
TODAY’S HEART FOCUS
Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you how to respond to temptation in the spirit, and not in the flesh.
