Maybe Just One…
Temptation is all around us. As Americans, we’ve collectively done a pretty shoddy job of resisting it. I was telling God that the best way to resist it is to avoid it, to plan your days and weeks so you encounter it as seldom as possible, but she told me that that missed the whole point. See, we’re supposed to face temptation and then we’re supposed to choose to resist it. Not all the time, but enough of the time.
But why?
She explained to me that it’s like our immune systems but in our minds. If we don’t face the small temptations and learn to say no enough of the time to keep from getting sick or shunned, we’ll not have any resistance when the big temptations come. When we get offered a big bonus to forge an inspection certificate, we need to have the moral fortitude to give it a pass. When we find a wallet stuffed with money and also the address of the owner, we need to not just know that it’s not right to choose our own level of reward, but to not give it a second thought.
So the little challenges matter. Passing up the donuts that the guy in the next row of cubicles brought in, because you’re trying to eat healthier doesn’t just help your waistline, it helps your moral fiber.
On the other hand donuts are pretty tasty.
Health nuts are pretty fond of telling us that our bodies are our temples and that we should be careful what we put into it, lest we offend our god. But what if our god is Dionysius?
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