Dear Friends,
Believe it or not, I am a terrible speller. If it weren’t for spell check on my computer, I’d never get through a paragraph without several misspelled words.
Do you know what I need even more than spell-check? I need a “Sin Check” — something that would automatically alert me when I’m about to do wrong. My conscience could be considered a mini-Sin-Check, but conscience has a funny way of going silent when what I’m doing brings me some degree of relief.
Writing in Romans 7:19, Saint Paul explained it this way: For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.
Don’t we all face this dilemma? We want to do good, but something deep inside us causes us to sin. Continuing with Romans 7:20, we read “If I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.”
That’s right. Our sin nature takes over.
Sometimes I feel like my name isn’t Donald, it’s “Nomore,” and John 8:11 becomes, “Go and sin, Nomore!” Go and sin no more! Easier said than done. I need someone to help me do this “Go and sin no more thing.” The Holy Spirit, it turns out, is that “Sin-Check” that I was speaking of earlier.
But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. John 14:26.
In our lives, the Holy Spirit warns us when certain sights, sounds, or feelings may trigger sinful responses. We must decide how to respond. Do you realize that almost any habit, be it good or bad, is initiated by a specific sequence of sensory events? Normally, the sequence is started by a specific sensation called “the trigger”. Triggers are sights, sounds, smells, painful memories or even body movements that trigger us to think, say, or do things that we know are physically or spiritually harmful. That sounds complicated – but, it’s important to understand the role of triggers if we want to stop an unwanted behavior.
Let me show you how triggers work. I used to get extremely angry. One day my son John innocently asked me, “Dad, do you know that just before you get angry, your tongue presses against the back of your upper teeth?”
From then on, I paid attention, and sure enough, anytime my tongue started to press against my front teeth, I knew that anger had started to build in me. Becoming aware of and disarming the trigger allowed me to better control my anger. I still get angry – but if I disengage the trigger (pull my tongue back) – I am better able to control my anger. For me, the trigger was a physical action. For others it might be a look, a tone of voice, or simply a feeling.
Controlling our triggers is not a matter of will power or “won’t” power. We can’t do it on our own. Identifying and disarming our personal triggers will only occur when we yield to the healing power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Consider which triggers may be keeping you from experiencing the joy of life, and ask the Holy Spirit to disarm your triggers.
Verse for the Week:
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:14
Blessings,
Your Friends in Christ
Because He Loves Us Press 