There seems to be one sure-fire way to avoid making bad choices: remove the option.
Cut up all your credit cards or cancel all your accounts and you won't use credit card debt -- it's not an option.
Remove the computer and you won't go to bad places on the internet.
There's another way to remove the option -- thru commitment or self-will. You just refuse to do it, even though the option is still there. This involves constant effort and monitoring, since any failure in your commitment or will means you could end up doing the thing.
Then there's what you might call "just not interested." The option is still there, but really it's as if it isn't, because you're "just not interested." Most people don't commit crimes -- not because the option isn't there or because of commitment to be law-abiding, or because of fear of being caught; most people just aren't interested in being criminals.
So how do you get to be "just not interested?" It might be a commitment you made and from then on something just isn't an option to you. You're the kind of person who says "I do" when you get married and that's that.
Or you've grown up that way -- people "just don't do that." You don't struggle with it or think about it. You're not tempted even though the option is there.
I used to drink every day -- I'm an alcoholic. When it was an option, I always chose it. That was over 20 years ago. But even though it's still and option, really it's not -- the Lord has changed me to "just not interested."
Is an option like a magnet? Without an upfront committment that is constantly monitored, or without being "just not interested" for some reason -- if the option is there, sooner or later will you do it or come close to doing it?
You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it's your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. -- Romans 6:16
The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. -- 1 Corinthians 10:13
Comments