Resistance

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

James 4: 7

There is much talk in religious circles concerning whether a Christian can live a consistent victorious life; A life that overcomes and conquers the practice of sin. This blog post will address one reason why some that confess Christianity have a struggle with being free from the practice of sin. In this passage (James 4), James gives understanding to the reader of his letter on how to live victoriously in this present world. One of his key points is to “resist the devil.” Herein lies the difficulty that some have in really maintaining consistent victory in their lives.

The word resist in this passage is a verb that means, “to exert oneself so as to counteract or defeat.” An example sentence would be “he resisted temptation.” The idea of resistance means that the person has to put forth effort or to exert oneself. The struggle comes in when we really do not want to put forth the effort … especially when we enjoy or at least are committed to the sin that plagues us. Implied in the resistance that James wrote about is one of great effort; both in intensity and possibly even in duration. The devil does not push against us lightly. He puts great effort into trying to destroy us (John 10: 10). We, in turn, are to put forth a counteracting effort that will keep the enemy from destroying us. James writes if we exert that counteracting “force” or effort, for the entirety of the temptation, the devil WILL flee from you. That is a promise!

Why then is resistance so hard? It comes down to what really is our true desire. If we truly desire to do something, we will do it. The enemy presses against us to determine where and if we have a breaking point when it comes to sin. God does allow or permit this testing or temptation to happen. James stated in James 1: 12:

Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive a crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

However, with some people this type of resistance or endurance, that James talks about, is too hard. If we look at the definition of addiction, inherent in that definition is a strong need or desire to regularly have something (such as a drug) or do something (such as gamble). Those strong desires however are also supported by physiological responses in the body. Dopamine is a type of neuromtransitter that is produced to send “messages” through the nervous system between nerve cells. Dopamine plays a big role in how we feel pleasure. It is natural and “spreads” throughout the nervous system without us having knowledge of its workings, unless too much or too little is being produced. From webmd.com:

Drugs such as cocaine can cause a big, fast increase of dopamine in your brain. That satisfies your natural reward system in a big way. But repeated drug use also raises the threshold for this kind of pleasure. This means you need more to get the same high. Meanwhile, drugs make your body less able to produce dopamine naturally. This leads to emotional lows when you are sober.

What is true for chemical addictions, such as drugs and alcohol, seem to also be true for non-chemical addictions such as gambling and pornography. The same “high” is experienced with these types of addictions. The same threshold level of pleasure is raised and the same emotional let-down occurs when one is “sober” from these activities. With addiction, the idea of resistance is extremely difficult because of the psychological, physiological and more importantly spiritual attachment that the person has to the thing that they are addicted to. The desires run very deep which makes the resistance almost impossible in some cases. We might say that “they just need to quit or stop what they are doing.” However, if it were that simple, many people would be able to just walk away from these vices.

Not everyone struggles with addictions. However, there are “vices” that can plague each one of us that may not readily be termed an addiction but can be classified as sin before God. How many of us cannot put our mobile devices down because of the draw of social media? How about the ability to push away from the food table? Do we crave the idea of hearing “dirt” on our brother or sister because we want to pass it on to another? How about the drive and desire to “get ahead?” We work hours upon hours to fulfill our dream of financial success only to neglect our families. What about our weekends being filled with sports; either participating or watching? Do we miss the church services because our favorite team is playing? Do we get a rush when shopping; either in-person or on-line? How about our displays of anger and frustration when we cannot get our way? How often does that happen and what triggers it?

These latter issues may not be as damaging as an addiction to drugs, alcohol, gambling or pornography. However, if left unchecked, these other “lesser” issues can still have damaging affects. In many instances, these same issues also produce a dopamine effect that is similar to that experienced by the “addict.” Psychologists are now starting to draw comparisons to social media and video game overuse and other types of addiction’s affects on the brain and nervous system. Emotional over-eating can also become an addiction and have very negative health consequences. Gossip, anger, lying, cheating can all become compulsive behaviors with extremely adverse affects. A person who works too much is called a “workaholic.” Even the sports “epidemic” in the United States has become harmful to the home. Families are compelled to spend a lot of time and money for the child or children to compete and possibly excel, usually in multiple sports. This is becoming the substitute for families spending time together. In all of these instances, it is strong desire that fuels the issue without much resistance to change.

Lastly, one might say that “I am not involved in any of these things.” That is admirable, especially in this day and age. However, we can also become so consumed with our daily lives, in this present world, that we have no time or place for God. People would rather “live their lives” than to be bothered with putting forth an effort to serve God through Jesus Christ. The beginning of the scripture text admonishes the reader to, ” Submit yourselves therefore to God.” That act of submission to God actually is a resistance to the devil. Living for God means that we not only have to resist the temptations that were previously outlined in this posts (i.e addictions and vices). But it more importantly means to resist the everyday temptation of not serving God. We can keep ourselves from all of the works of the flesh but still be lacking due to the fact that we have not submitted to God and allowed for the infilling of his Holy Spirit. The devil would have many believe that if they submit to God that they will turnout weird or strange or be required to do something that they do not want to do. Those thoughts and ideas also have to be resisted. I Corinthians 10: 13 states:

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.

Victory, or as James states “the crown of life”, comes when we are able to completely resist the enemy with no reserves. We have no hidden agendas or desires. When someone is truly delivered of an addiction they actually have a stronger desire to “win” than they do to lose. That desire carries them through the worst of the “withdrawals.” Many of those people have learned that they cannot handle it themselves and that they need to submit and place their desires in the hands of Jesus. Those that want to live a victorious life in Christ have to do the same thing. Our will must be submitted to his will. This “resistance” is not only critical in obtaining victory but even more so in maintaining victory.