Attacked from the inside …

I’m grateful I have just enough self-discipline to not allow myself to visit animal shelters full of adorable dogs.

I love dogs!

And every now and then, I tempt myself with the idea of stopping in at an animal shelter “just to visit” the dogs there.

But I know me. I wouldn’t leave without one!

Glenn Newton writes about the “puppy temptation” so many parents face …

If you are a parent, you’ve heard these words before: “Mommy, Daddy, can we get a puppy?” And, if you are smart, you responded with the following: “You know puppies are a lot of trouble. You would have to walk it at least three times a day and make sure it is fed. You would have to bathe it at least twice a week and brush it every day. You would also have to train it and take it outside to use the bathroom. And if it ever poo-poo’s or tee-tee’s in the house, it would be your responsibility to clean it up.”

Although the above lecture is normally used as a doggie deterrent, most children respond by saying, “I don’t care. I wouldn’t mind doing all that as long as I had a puppy!” So we break down and buy the puppy, and a month later we are stuck feeding, walking, and cleaning up after it. The exasperated child says, “I just didn’t know how much work it would be!”

Much like a child demanding a puppy of his parents, Israel acted in similar fashion with the prophet Samuel, but instead of an adorable puppy they wanted a king …

“‘Look,’ they told him, ‘you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have,'” 1 Samuel 8:5.

Like a wise parent, Samuel tried to warn the Israelites about the trouble of having a king …

“’This is how a king will reign over you,’ Samuel said. ‘The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots. Some will be generals and captains in his army,some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment. The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants. He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use. He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you,’” 1 Samuel 8:11-18.

Samuel couldn’t have issued a clearer warning, but when people are being completely selfish, often no amount of reason will prevail from what a person desires …

“But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. ‘Even so, we still want a king,’ they said,” 1 Samuel 8:19.

The Israelites giving in to their desires was an attack from the inside, bringing harm to themselves — spiritually and otherwise — because they allowed themselves to be carried away by their own lusts to be like other nations (v. 20) and enticed by their own desires.

We do the same thing.

We bring ourselves down by attacking ourselves from the inside. James explained it like this …

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death,” James 1:13-15 (NASB).

Our thinking is so warped it must be transformed (e.g., Romans 12:2), and our hearts so corrupt they cannot be trusted (Jeremiah 17:9). Jesus tells us there’s only one way we can be saved from our persistent attacks from the inside …

“Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God … Jesus replied, ‘I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life,'” John 3:3, 5-6.

Only through the redemption we have through Jesus Christ can we be saved from ourselves. By being born again, our minds and hearts are transformed; instead of being enticed and carried away by our own lusts, the Holy Spirit changes us to desire what God desires. The author of Hebrews concludes …

“Now may the God of peace — who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood — may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen,” Hebrews 13:20-21.

Like a kid longing for a puppy, are you still demanding your own desires and lusting after sin? Or have you been born again and saved from the attacks from the inside?

Scotty