Overcoming Temptationਨਮੂਨਾ

LYING LANDMARKS

Life is full of choices, sometimes we can get lost, sometimes it's not clear what the right choice is. Many times, we are looking to landmarks for directions.

As a teen, I got dangerously lost in the Canadian wilderness due to a lying landmark. I was with my father, hunting Caribou. We left our camp with a few hunters, took a small boat across the lake, hiked through the woods and up a hill (or mountain), and up past the tree line, where we spent the day hunting.

I had a successful day and tagged out. Which meant there was a lot of meat to bring down the mountain. I reasoned with my dad that if I took two trips today, I could sleep in tomorrow since I was tagged out. He agreed. We loaded a backpack with about 55-60 pounds of meat. I left my outer coat and gun and looked down from the top of the mountain to see a pond that I needed to pass just on the right after I re-entered the forest. I checked my compass and took off.

After I entered the woods, I came to the pond, but instead of being just on my left, it was a ways off to my right. I went to check my compass and discovered it had fallen out of my hoodie pocket. So I trusted the landmark and altered my course. When I had walked an extra mile or two, I realized I had a problem. I climbed another nearby hill to survey the land. Every direction I looked was filled with mountains, lakes, and bald hills, and the same sorts of woods. The only thing within 100 miles was our small camp, and I had taken off my coat, left my gun, and was carrying a pack of raw meat in the bear-infested arctic tundra.

I prayed and then noticed, in one of the lakes, there was an island, and I knew our lake had an island. I was then able to hike back and live to tell about it. What I discovered later was that there were actually two ponds. I just couldn’t see the one from the top of the mountain. I had been on course, but took directions from the wrong landmark, leading me way off course.

We live in a culture that is trying to move and change all of our landmarks. What is Biblically acceptable and socially acceptable have been growing further and further apart. We have to decide on God’s compass or culture’s landmarks for directions.

Culture is trying to redefine marriage, truth, right, and wrong in every area. Deception makes one of the scariest temptations because you may not even know you are being tempted. You may not know that you are getting off course.

Jesus shows us how to face these temptations. Satan tried to lead Jesus into trusting in his own works instead of God’s Word, and tempted him to take shortcuts, to accomplish God’s call without following God’s direction. He offered Jesus the world without going to the cross, but Jesus' compass and response was always the Word.

God’s Word is meant to be our compass, one that holds true, no matter what landmarks the world shifts around us.