Strength For The Battle

For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
Proverbs 7:26

I am an avid fan of SEC Football (War Eagle!). I love to watch the battle in the trenches between some of the strongest and fastest men in college. Each year, there seems to be one defensive lineman at one of the SEC universities that is stronger and faster than the whole offensive line. He rips through the line and makes crushing tackles and game-saving sacks seem like an every day thing. They have my utmost respect and admiration for mastering the game of college football.

But even the best of these are no match to temptation. Solomon goes in great detail to describe the horrendous effects of yielding to temptation. Even from my example above, not a season goes by that the news doesn't cover some star athlete that falls prey to temptation that results in his expulsion from what he does best.

And the same applies to our Christian life. We can not overcome temptation by brute strength or chanting the same mantra repeatedly. We must have His strength to protect us. And it is only through maintaining a strong relationship with God through prayer and studying His word that we have a fighting chance to win the battle against temptation.

Perhaps we should have the same commitment to our regimen of following Christ as the athletes do with physical conditioning. If we were as dedicated to daily practicing His word, we would have the ability to resist all temptation!