Focus on the Master, not the meat

Written by Nana Kwame Owusu-Afriyie.

"The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure." (NLT) 1 Corinthians 10:13

A story is told of a dog and his master. The dog couldn’t resist the temptation of stealing his master’s meat despite incessant warnings from his master not to touch it. Anytime he steals the meat and eats it, he becomes grief-stricken and his guilty conscience will not even allow him to wiggle his tail to meet his master as he comes home from work.

Deep down, his relationship with his master matters more to him than the fleeting pleasure of feasting on his master’s meat. However, any time he turns his gaze on his master’s meat he can’t just resist its allurements.

Finally, he was struck by a thought: “What if I fix my gaze on my master and not the meat?” He realized there and then that if he focuses on his master, he will always remember his directive of not touching the meat and that can save him from that temptation.

As we strive to truly represent Christ here on earth, the temptation to sin will forever be on our trail. We can become like Oscar Wilde and say: “The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it … I can resist everything but temptation” or we can lock our focus on our Master Jesus who will always show us the way out of temptations.

Yield not to temptation, for yielding, is sin

Each victory will help you or some others to win

Fight manfully onward, dark passions subdue

Look ever to Jesus and He’ll carry you through

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