There’s Girl Scout cookies in my house.  Lots of them.  I have 2 scouts selling cookies and I think they sold half of their quota to me.  And if I didn’t have enough, then there’s the cookies that friends and family bought and then told me later they didn’t want them, that we could have them.  They just wanted to support the girls.

Well, Girl Scout cookies……What’s not to love right?  With 5 sugar loving kids in the house, how could cookies be a problem?  The problem is that we made a commitment to eat healthy 3 weeks ago.  Just a week before the cookies showed up.  I had no commitment to healthy eating when I ordered all those cookies!

I was reading about sugar recently and it was said that after about a week of NO sweeteners of any kind that your body would stop craving sugar.  I thought to myself, “I don’t care if you’re an expert, that is not possible with Connie Post!”  But the thing is, it was true.  I STOPPED craving sugar.  I thought I had this licked. So I really wasn’t bothered by the Girl Scout cookies…………at first.

But they kept sitting there.  Staring at me.  Calling my name.  I kept delivering them and looking at the boxes and explaining them to people.  I didn’t really want any, but there was this one kind that I had never tried and since Girl Scout cookies only come around once a year, it would be a shame not to taste it right?  I’m familiar with all the classic flavors.  Everyone has a favorite. But the one I had never tried was called, “Thanks-a-Lots”. Well, I tried it.  And now all I can say is “thanks a lot, cause now I’ve got a problem”.  It was the only cookie tempting me out of all the boxes.  And now I have this cookie theory and I’m just reasoning that if I eat all the Thanks-a-lots, then they won’t be around to tempt me any more.  Sounds pretty good to me.

Fortunately I managed to deliver and sell all the cookies except for 4 stray boxes.  A friend came by today and was kind enough to take them off my hands.  I showed her the last box of “Thanks-a-Lots” and told her that in all these 3 weeks of no sugar and feeling great and losing weight, this cookie was the only thing that has tempted me in the least.  She asked if she should leave it with me.  “NO!  Take it away from here!” I cried.  And thankfully she did.  Whew. That was close.

Those cookies remind me of sin.  Sometimes we get to going along and think we are impervious to sin and temptation and then something sneaks it’s way in.  We resist it at first but it eventually wears us down until we finally give in.  And if we’re not careful we jump in with both feet, thinking I might as well just take the whole thing.  How fortunate we are when a friend comes along and helps us remove the temptation from our lives.

For some, the only friend that helps us do that is the Holy Spirit.  And He is enough. For some you have true brothers and sisters in Christ that can help you see what you might not notice and help you navigate away from a trap.

Removing that temptation could mean quitting a job or ending an unhealthy relationship.  It could mean blocking a caller from your phone or canceling your cable.  It could mean volunteering somewhere so you can fill your time, going straight home after work or stop hanging around with certain folks.  It could mean getting off Facebook for a season or canceling a magazine subscription.

The point is, that just when we think we can’t fall, that’s when we are most likely to.  And Satan can use anything in our world to tempt us.  When we are tempted, our tendency is to think that we will just stand up to that temptation and we will always overcome it.  I believe we are overcomers of the enemy, but sin is a serious thing and the scripture is clear about how we should handle temptation.  In several places when the Bible talks about temptation, it says to flee.  Run away from it.  Get rid of it.  The gospels tell us if our hand or foot cause us to stumble then to cut it off.  The idea is to remove anything that causes us to sin.

Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

Ask the Lord to search your heart.  Ask Him if there’s any hidden sin that could make you stumble.  Ask Him to show you if there’s something you’re not noticing or a temptation in your path.  And when temptation does come your way, don’t pretend like it’s not there or assume you will resist.  Run!

But how gracious God is to restore our souls after we have failed Him.  His mercies are new every morning.  Great is His faithfulness.  Praise his Holy Name!