On Resisting Temptation

It was wednesday night, Jia Xian led the discussion for Youth Councellor cell group on Purpose Driven Life Chap 27-28 about resisting temptation. He opted for a 'free sharing'. I'm nvr good at 'free sharing' cuz in the first place, i had not revised the chap in advance and even if i had, i wouldn't want to repeat whatever that has been mentioned in the book. As youth councellor, i'm sure everybody could at least read and comprehend the contents.



So, when it's my turn to share, i threw out a question.



You are a senior government servant and has the authority to approve a competitive tender. One of the applicants send in documents with two boxes, a box of money, and a box with a gun inside. Meaning approve the tender and take the money. If not, the road of death is awaiting you. What would u do?



The standard answer is to return the money and only approve the tender if it fits the requirement. Jian An, the new believer wants to take the money and return it back to the applicant to buy better building materials. Jian An has a wife and three kids, so his life is much more precious than most of ours.



Sensei Ye rebutted Jian An's reasoning with a real life story. Mr Chung (Reverend Chung's father) visited one the churches in Indonesia and met the Elder. The Elder has two wives. Bible does not approve polygamy. The Elder then told his story of how he obtained god's consent on having his second wife who was previously his secretary at work. The night before his wedding day, he prayed to god, " God, please let me die if you do not agree to me marrying the lovely lady tomorrow." He woke up the next morning and declared that god has blessed his second marriage. Sensei Ye stressed that this is seriourly wrong. The lesson, do not test the lord your god. God would not stop human from doing anything. It's His original will that human shall have freedom to act. However, the wrong-doer will have to bear the consequences.



Although i know the standard answer, i really can't tell wat i'd do if this happen to me in real life.i guess i'm the 'takut mati' type. Take the $$ and retire at some faraway land. The discussion went interesting and far. We even discussd about whether to take up jobs or career path that opens up ur eyes to temptation almost on a daily basis. Examples of this careers are police and custom officers. I think this should be avoided. How many times of temptation could you resist if the amount goes up from 1000, 2999,3000,4000,10000, i'm sure u'd surrender if the amount gets big enough, wouldn't u?



Sensei Ye gave a very good conclusion about this story with a parable:



One day, devil came to knock on a your door. How'd you answer? Ask Jesus to answer.



Moral of the story, know god's word and this will give you the reminder and strength to ride through temptation.