What's Up With the Word "No?"

   Okay, it is confession time: I am a poker addict. No, I’m not talking about the game of poker with the cards. I don’t even know how to play that game. I mean poking like I come up and poke people with my pointer finger. I’m actually not as addicted to it as I used to be. I mostly do it to my family now. Well, one day I did it to my brother and that event got me thinking.

   I guess I must have been in a really annoying or hyper mood. So I just kept poking him. Plus, he gets more annoyed when I poke him than my sister does when I poke my her. During this particular time he was trying a new tactic of ignoring me. Sometimes that works; but this time it did not. After a while he finally yelled “no, stop.” I must have been in a really annoying mood because I said “you telling me no and you telling me stop makes my brain say ‘do it.’” We started cracking up because it was just really funny the way I said that; and I did actually stop poking him.

   That event has become an interesting joke in my family. But the more I thought about what I said to him the more I began to realize that what I said was the truth. There have been plenty of times in my life where people have told me not to do something; but then them telling me not to do it makes me want to do it even more. Of course, now I find myself on the opposite side of this because I am a teacher. I will tell my students not to do something because I care about their safety but they will try to do it anyway. Why is it that when people tell us not to do something it makes us want to do it even more?

   I believe it all comes down to our sinful nature. We are creatures who like pushing the limits. We are creatures who have sinful desires. And, it is really easy for us to follow those desires rather than trying to follow God. But, in the end what do our sinful desires get us? Nothing really because we will die; and the things of this earth will pass away. Because of our sin we deserve to go to Hell; but because we have a great God we can inherit eternal life. All we need to do is accept that we are a sinner and ask Jesus to come into our heart.

   Now, many people just stop at that point. It is true that some do try to change and stop sinning; but some people think once they have that ticket they are good to go and they can just keep sinning. It doesn’t work like that. We must combat the sinful desires of the flesh. Some ways we can do that is to hold one another accountable, to pray for strength, and to grow in our relationship with God. It will not be easy; but it will be worth it.

   So, are you falling into the trap of following your sinful desires? Are you willing to try to combat those desires?

   James 4:17, 1 John 1:8-10, Proverbs 27:17