Sign up for our free newsletter:

Q. What if there are things I should walk away from, but I've been unable to resist?

A. I mustn't believe the lie that says I can't change or take control. Because God's Spirit is in me, God's strength is in me.

But sometimes I feel so helpless. In late autumn my family likes to travel to southern Illinois around Horseshoe Lake where the geese are flying. Each time, I'm reminded of how foolish it is to believe that God would make Christians helpless to resist the destructive forces of sin.

When you travel down Highway 3, which slices right across the flyway of thousands of migrating waterfowl, you see the grain fields the conservation people have planted for the geese. The birds gather in this reserve by the hundreds of thousands, blanketing the ground until sunset. Then at dusk an amazing change occurs. Like huge puffs of smoke, the birds rise from the ground by the thousands and cross the highway. Why? You'd think it would be far easier to fly by day.

One side of the highway is all game reserve. The other side of the road is private farmland where hunters gather by the score. The old-timers say the reason the birds wait till sunset to cross is that they've learned the hunters' time limit is over at sundown.

Wow, if a goose with a pea brain, driven by instinct, has the ability to change behaviors that would lead to its own destruction, how can we with the mind of Christ and controlled by the Spirit of God claim that we can't?

Bryan Chapell is president of Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis Missouri

Adapted from: The Promises of Grace (Baker, 2001)

Prayer for the Week

Dear God, please empower me to resist all that would dilute my commitment to You and Your will for me.

				Try an Issue of Men of Integrity Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Men of Integrity coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Men of Integrity as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

FREE Newsletter Sign up for the Men of Integrity Newsletter    RSS Feed   RSS Help