Climbing past temptation

So today I went climbing(bouldering), and then I read a page from "My Utmost for His Highest". So naturally, this post will be about both of those things.

OK, so on a climbing wall there will be a bunch of holds, and specific colored tape on holds, mapping out a route. Some are easier, some are more difficult. Well, there was a climb tonight that I tried about 7 times, and never made it to the top. For some people, they'd get discouraged and quit. But for others, we love that feeling, almost in a twisted way. We thrive at that point of failure, of trial. We love to persevere, and focus, and overcome. And I can't wait to get back, once my muscles recover, and give it another shot. The truth is that there are people who live their lives down the path of least resistance, and prefer comfort, and -dare I say- mediocrity. And then there are champions. Warriors. Fighters. And they are not who they are because they never fail... but they get up, and never stay down.

-Topic change-

The page I read in My Utmost was about temptations. How they are part of life, and part of God's plan for us. Old Oswald almost had the attitude that we should enjoy temptations... realizing that God wants us to have them. And I was like... muuhhh??!?! And then, it clicked.

God doesn't want Christians to be the team that gets 5 bye weeks and ends up in the Super Bowl. He wants to put us in situations where there may be failure, as well as victory. And He wants us to be victorious, through Christ. In fact, we are more than conquerers. And it's not that we are winners... we are on the Lord's side, and He Himself goes before us and fights for us. And there is nothing, nothing, nothing that can seperate us from Christ... and Christ is a champion.

Being like Jesus isn't just being friendly, loving, and compassionate. It's being a champion, and understanding temptation- not as an opportunity to fail, but to be victorious. I'm not saying it's easy... but I think it'll be easier when we stop looking at temptation as a precursor to failure, but as a fight where victory is attainable.

----------------------

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

-Teddy Roosevelt