Lent Day 6: Victorious here, decimated there

Samson was a strongman. Judges 13-16 records his incredible feats. He tore city gates off their hinges and carried them to the next hilltop. He caught 300 foxes and tied their tails together before releasing them--tails on fire--into enemy grainfields. Using a donkey's jawbone as his weapon, he slaughtered 1000 Philistines.

And yet, he was utterly stupid in his sexual appetites. The classic tale of Samson and Delilah (Judges 16) tells how she asked him many times for the source of his strength. When he made up a reason, she set him up for entrapment. The men paying her for information would spring on Samson and try to capture him.

You'd think after a few times, Samson would catch on! This woman didn't have his best interests at heart. She used information given during intimacy against him. He escaped each time only by lying to her.

The fourth time, Delilah nagged him that he didn't love her enough to tell the truth. She wore him out with her questions. However, instead of leaving, Samson was so "in love" that he told her his secret. Sure enough: she laid the snare in which he was caught.

It's easy to judge Samson for his lusty habits. Yet, how many times have we indulged in behaviors and thoughts we know are unhealthy or unwise? How many times have we fallen to our knees to beg God for forgiveness "one more time"?

Often our greatest strength is coupled to our greatest weakness. Samson's strong body probably coursed with testosterone, making him vulnerable to physical lust. You or I might be comfortable performing in public, but secretly harbor pride and condescension of others. Those skilled in cooking may be prone to overeating. We may be storytellers inclined to gossip. (You get the picture.)

Only God can give us the will and the tools to elude sin and its consequences. Jesus came to purchase our freedom. He offers us abundant life that comes from communing with God, no sins between.

What do you (and I) need to ask God's help for today?

Read more:
*Consider my affliction and my trouble, and forgive all my sins. Psalm 25:18

*From the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have treated the wound of my people carelessly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. Jeremiah 6:13-14

*We intend to do what is right not only in the Lord’s sight but also in the sight of others. 2 Corinthians 8:21

*When you were dead in trespasses, God made you alive together with Christ, when he forgave us all our trespasses. Colossians 2:13

Moravain Prayer: Christ Jesus, suffering Servant of God, we bow in utter gratitude before your cross. Thank you for lifting us from despair and showing us the way to forgiveness. We know what you require of us for right living, O Lord – kindness, justice, and humility before you. Strengthen us to live according to your instruction. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

Living familiar patterns rather than new life?

The beautiful back salon of the boat
rocks in harbor

My desk is rocking on gentle waves. I'm having a hard time keeping my fingers on the keyboard as my office sways back and forth.

Actually, the trees outside the house aren't even moving. It's dead calm. Tea waits quietly in the teacup on the glass desktop.

But when I least expect it, I feel like the chair moves back and forth, up and down. We just spent 4 days cruising the coast on our friends' boat. We didn't feel unsteady when we walked ashore to eat or shop. But once in a while, usually when seated at a restaurant, someone would ask, "Do you still feel like you're on the waves?"

And another would respond, " I think my chair is swaying."

Waldemar sets the bumpers
after leaving the dock

Sometimes our habits are so familiar, traumas from childhood so ingrained, or old patterns so deeply set that we act as though we have no choices. Like the imagined swaying of my office walls, we follow the old grooves in unguarded times:

• We lie to present ourselves favorably instead of answering quick questions with the uncomplicated truth.
• We interact with others as "our best self" (who we think we should be - or as we think others want us to be) rather than being honest about our preferences, backgrounds, or giftings.
• We compromise intimacy in marriage by fantasizing rather than enjoying and building up the spouse who loves us. If we have been traumatized by others, we may not trust ourselves to give our whole heart and soul to our mate.
• We're dishonest at work, claiming benefits that belong to others or stealing supplies and resources that belong to others.
• We pretend to diet at meals or when we eat in public while snacking all day where others can't see us, because food is our comfort or friendly go-to when stressed.
• We lie to ourselves about our strengths and weaknesses, focusing on what we do not have so that we cannot benefit from the beautiful ways God made us and the gifts God gives us.

Waldemar and Terry head for the crab pots

I know where I get off the rails, where my little engine jumps the tracks to ugly, familiar destinations. And when I am hungry, angry, tired, or depressed, it's easiest to get derailed into destructive comforts rather than stay the course.

"Not one of us has achieved the goal of the high calling of God," Paul warned. "Let the one who thinks he/she stands be careful lest he/she falls."

God calls us to new life but salvation is not a magic trick where everything we've known or done disappears so that life becomes perfect. This newborn life has to be defended, guarded, and built upon!

How are you learning to live our your salvation? Here are some guidelines that help me:

Waldemar and Debbie navigating
our course

1. Recognize myself. God called me from where I was, as I was, to follow him.
2. Acknowledge God's power. He is able to transform what we have ruined, to create anew what sin has broken.
3. Thank God for his gift of free will. God lets us choose to obey or disobey. He partners his strength and wisdom with our faith (trusting obedience).
4. Form good habits over time to replace wrong thinking or destructive patterns. Little by little, line by line, one day at a time, we are being transformed into the image of God's son (Romans 12:1-2).
5. Trust that God is enough for each day. When we fall, let's repent. Get up and move forward, believing that God knows you and me inside and out and willingly walks with us on life's journey. If he chose you as his child, he already knows the days you will fail as well as the days you succeed!

Read more:
*Praise the Lord. Praise, O servants of the Lord, praise the name of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. Psalm 113:1-3 NIV

*[Joab said,] 'Now go out there and congratulate your troops, for I swear by the LORD that if you don't go out, not a single one of them will remain here tonight. Then you will be worse off than ever before.'

So the king went out and took his seat at the town gate, and as the news spread throughout the town that he was there, everyone went to him." 2 Samuel 19:7–8 NLT

*For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9

*Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:12

Moravian Prayer: Chief Elder, we elect you each day to be the guiding force in our lives—your ways are so much better than our ways. Help us to trust that you know fully, and if we seek to be like you we will be living life to the fullest. Amen.