When my son, Beau was a toddler, he would ride in the front seat of the car with his Grandpa Popo. After a while, Beau would be overcome by boredom and temptation would beset him and he would begin pushing and pulling any and all of the buttons on the dashboard that his little hands could reach. Popo would tug on a little tuft of Beau’s hair and firmly scold, “No, Beau! Don’t play with the buttons.” Beau’s big blue eyes would well up with tears. He would sit back, rub his head, whimper and wait a few minutes until… ONCE AGAIN he would be overcome by temptation. ONCE AGAIN, Beau would begin pushing and pulling any and all of the buttons on the dashboard that his little hands could reach. ONCE AGAIN, Popo would tug on a little tuft of Beau’s hair, and firmly scold, “No, Beau. Don’t play with the buttons.” ONCE AGAIN, Beau would sit back, rub his head, whimper and wait a few minutes until ONCE AGAIN…
This story reminds me of Paul’s never-ending quandary in Romans 7:15 and 19. “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do… For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do, this I keep on doing.” What’s going on here?
The third grade school psychologist called the behavior “Contrary Oppositional Disorder”… a sophisticated psycho-babble synonym for the condition of someone who enjoys a good, old-fashioned power struggle with authority. When I was in school, my third grade teacher called it “unsatisfactory citizenship” and it carried the kiss of death with it when found lurking in one’s report card. My father called it old-fashioned rebellion.
Since the Fall of Adam and Eve, it has been our human nature to be drawn to sin like a moth to flame. We are compelled to sin. We simply can’t help ourselves. We sin because we are sinners. That’s the cold, hard facts. David, whom God called “a man after His own heart” (I Samuel 13:14) lamented that he was born into sin and in sin he was conceived. (Psalms 51:5). There’s just no getting around it; we are steeped in it.
Is there really a tiny red demon with horns and a little pitchfork perched on one of our shoulders, whispering in our ear, goading us to do evil, or a tiny white angel with gossamer wings and a golden halo sitting on the other shoulder exhorting us to bring glory to the Father? NO. However, we do have the enemy and his tactics working on us from the outside and our own sin nature working on us from the inside. Sin is our responsibility. We have no one else to blame but ourselves. Likewise, it’s our responsibility what we do about it, as sin separates us from God. That’s the bad news.
Flip Wilson used to say, “The devil made me do it!” Did the devil really make him do it? Does the Devil make us do it? The devil is referred to as the tempter in Scripture but, can he make us sin? Not if 1 Corinthians 10:13 is true. “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
I John 4:10 promises , that even before God’s people cry out for His help, He has already taken the divine initiative to redeem them! Try to recall times that we as individuals and as a collective people have experienced God’s uninvited but necessary intercession. Romans 5:8, proclaims, “God demonstrated His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus is the proverbial bridge over troubled water. He bore the fiduciary responsibility for our sin. Not that we loved God, but that He (first!) loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation (atoning sacrifice) for our sins” (I John 4:10). As far as is the East from the West, Jesus separates us from sin. That’s the good news!
Christ died for contrary oppositional disorder. Thank You, Lord!!
