becoming

話說有一個傳道食完早餐埋單，在銀包掏了一張十蚊子找數。

不需一會，女侍應手執那張十蚊走回來，說：

「喂，你的十蚊唔收得，是假的！」

「唔係啩？」 傳道心有不甘地問，「你點知是假的？」

「你看看，又冇水印，紙又粗，還要這裡是脫色了！」 女侍應蠻精明地道。

「哎喲，無端端不見了十蚊…」

———————————–

傳道整天覺得倒霉，心心不忿，不斷想著這張十蚊的來歷。

「是Sobey找給我的。」 他終於想起來。

為免蝕底，心裡還盤算著怎樣可以用掉它，神不知鬼不覺…

———————————–

晚上聚會結束，回家路上要經過M記外買。

猛然發現自己望著銀包內的兩張真假十元…

是真的有衝動來過「以彼之道、還施彼身」 …

看見勢色不對，

連忙快手撕掉那假十元。

急忙付錢速速走人…

———————————–

傳道與否，試探就是來得那麼真實、 那麼突然。

每當你以為自己道行高超，應該輕易駕馭；每當你「以為」甚麼…

還是連忙快手叫那「可能」幻滅，

然後速速走人。

因為，

試探總比我們想象的利害，

這就是證據：

 

但還是要看看留在銀包的那張—

是否真的。

I am going to lead a discussion and workshop on overcoming temptations tonight and 2 weeks after. The first of the 2 will focus on case studies and person reflections, while the second one will be in a lecture format.

While working on Christian's struggles to overcome sin and bondage, it suddenly dawn on me that there is no coincidence that the focus of Lent is precisely that. Take a look at this quote from today's Lent reading:

How was it that David didn’t see himself in the story (cf. II Samuel 12:1-24)? Had he convinced himself that, since he didn’t do the actual act of killing, he wasn’t really responsible? As king of Israel, he was sworn to protect his people, yet his lust made him commit an act he knew was wrong. Since God knows us better than we know ourselves, why did David think he could get away with murder? Maybe he just didn’t think about it. 

And isn't that obvious why you must go and watch this movie on the subject of Slavery? [HT: Anson]

Via Maggi Dawn:

No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting it, not by giving in. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later.

That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it.

(C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p 13)