BUILDING THEIR NESTS IN OUR HAIR
by J.R. Miller The experience of temptation
is universal. Every life must grow up amid
unfriendly and opposing influences. Some of them are subtle and insidious,
like a pestilence in the air. Some of them fierce and wild,
like the blast of a storm or the rush of battle. The question
in life is not how to escape temptation, but how to pass through
it so as not to be harmed by it. Christ's way of helping us
is not by keeping us out of the conflicts. This would leave us
forever weak, untried, and undisciplined. The price of spiritual attainment
and culture is struggle. Jesus himself was made perfect
through suffering. All the best things in life,
the only things worth obtaining, lie beyond fields of battle,
and we can get them only by overcoming. It would be no kindness to us
were God to withdraw us into some sheltered spot whenever
there is danger, or if he were to fight our battles for us,
thus freeing us from all necessity to struggle. Yet there is a way
of so living in this world as not to suffer harm in even the
fiercest temptations, to pass through them and not be damaged
by them. There is even a way of so meeting
temptations as to get benefit and blessing from them, Blessed
is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved,
he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord promised
to those who love him. Rightly meeting and victoriously
resisting temptation puts new fiber into the soul. The Indians
say that when a warrior kills a foe, the spirit of the vanquished
enemy enters the victor's heart and adds to his own strength.
This is true in our spiritual warfare. We grow stronger through
our struggles and victories. Each lust conquered, each evil
subdued, adds to the strength of our soul. The question, then,
is how to meet temptation so as to overcome it, and thus win
the blessing there is in it. We must remember, first of all,
that we are not able in ourselves successfully to fight our battles.
If we think we are, and go forth in our own name and strength,
we shall utterly fail. Life is too large, and its struggles
and conflicts are too great for the strongest human, unaided
by divine power. We must settle it once for all. that we can conquer only in the
name and by the help of the strong Son of God. We may come off the
field more than conquerors, but only through Him who loved us. We can pass safely through all
the fierce dangers of this world and be kept unspotted amid its
sin and foulness, but only if we have with us Him who is able
to keep us from stumbling and set us before the presence of
His glory without blemish. Self-confidence in our own ability
to overcome temptation is fatal folly. Men and devils may tempt
us, but men and devils cannot force us to yield. Others may
seek to influence us. They may plead, entreat, and
persuade, but they cannot compel us. We cannot avoid being tempted,
but we ought to avoid yielding to temptation. Luther used to
say, we cannot keep the birds from flying over our heads, but
we can prevent them from building their nests in our hair. Just so, we cannot keep temptations
away from our ears, nor prevent them whispering their seductive
words close by us, but we can hinder them making their nests
in our hearts. This Puritan devotional has been
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