It Was The Cookie Monster

Anyone else hide their Girl Scout cookies or delicious chocolates from themselves? Yah. Me too. I am a poor hider of goods and a great seeker of all things tastily tempting.

Those eight boxes of cookies I ordered...

Gone.

That box of tantalizing chocolates from See's Candy...

Gone.

I'm weak. It's true.

My feet just seem to walk me right up to the pantry. Is that my arm reaching for those treats hidden behind the flour? Shoot, how did these cookies get into my mouth? Someone else must be eating these. The box is empty.

Must be the Cookie Monster. It's not me. Maybe a mouse in the house ate them all. Yes. A mouse.

Why are all the yummy, sweet, chocolatey, sugary, deliciously not healthy things so dang tempting? Ugh. The torture. Saying no is so hard. Walking away is so hard. Refusing to give in is so hard.

Temptation is like the Hulk. Something we shouldn't or don't want to give into begins in a form like a small, innocent, unassuming thing like Bruce Banner. It can then grow into this gigantic, looming, and frightening thing like the Hulk just lording over you.

What starts off innocently, simply, naively can morph into this secret, this urge, this "thing" that you can't shake, you can't walk away from.

It's all-consuming.

It's controlling.

It's always whispering "yes".

Temptation takes many forms from social media, screentime, food, alcohol, drugs, seeking attention outside of a relationship, giving into pressure to maintain the perfect body or appearance, money. You name it, it can be a temptation.

How then do we find the willpower to face this Hulk and have the strength to defeat it? Unfortunately, it's not a simple word we mutter or one prayer that we say. It isn't a hope, a wish, or something that we can do alone.

To fight it, we need the strength of the one true living God. He who has already defeated Satan and all of his lies, all of his temptations. He has given us victory through his son Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and conquered death.

We are going to falter. We are weak in our flesh. Yet we are strong in the power of the Holy Spirit. We serve the One that gave all for his creation and there is nothing that he cannot redeem.

So the next time that temptation whispers to you to "just say yes", call on the Father to provide strength, to turn away and say "NO".

And in the moments where it is overwhelming and we stumble into the trap of temptation, turn to God. All we have to do is ask for grace and mercy and God will shine upon us his forgiveness and discipline. Seek his wisdom and trust in his goodness.

For although at times we may feel a slave to the power of temptation in all of its Hulk-like ways, we are children of the Kingdom of God. A kingdom which houses a victor stronger than all and a more righteous King that has the final say.