HOW TO OVERCOME TEMPTATIONS – Part 2
A young man wanted to make one of his companions do something bad just once, and the companion retorted: Just once? Would you allow your head to be cut off just once?” Not many have such heroic spirit within them. They easily succumb to temptation and, to them, sin becomes a habit, until they find that they are helpless in the face of temptation. They simply cannot resist it. They cannot live without it. They realise that the consequences are dangerous, but they feel helpless and lost. They are drawn to temptation even as a frog is drawn to a snake. When a snake looks at a frog and a frog has met its gaze, the frog feels helpless. There is a mesmeric power in the look of the serpent which the frog cannot resist and, irresistibly, the frog is drawn to the mouth of the snake, drawn to its own death.
St. Augustine, in one of his books tells of a young man names Eutimius. He lived a life of profligacy. He was sunk in vile pleasures and realised that he was losing his health, but just could not overcome his sinful habits. After contracting several diseases, he developed a serious eye infection, and the physician said to him: “the stage has arrived when either you will have to give up your evil habits or lose your sight!” Eutimius replied: “what can I do? I feel helpless. Let me lose my sight and if necessary, even my life, but I simply cannot give up my habits.” Such is the force of habit. Many youths become slaves of habits with which they do not break off in time.
There was a young man. His father saw him slipping into the vice of impurity. Immediately, the father took him to a hospital ward where lay patients who had led immoral lives. There they lay in spasms of pain. At the sight of those moaning patients, young men who had become prematurely aged, emaciated, ulcerated, with an unbearable stench, the youth almost fainted. Then his father said: “These are the consequences of an immoral life, and if you continue on the road to dispassion, it would not be long before you end up in this hospital. “The father’s lesson made such an impact on the youth that he immediately straightened himself out and became an example of temperance to all his companions.
There is the story of a lark who was merrily flying in the heavens. From his heights, the lark saw a small object moving in a garden far below him. Being curious to know what it was, he descended until he was quite low and, to his utter surprise, he found that it was a tiny cart with a mouse drawing , while alongside was another mouse who was waving a whip and all the time crying out: “Fresh worms for sale.”
The lark felt tempted and wanted to know the price of the worms.
“Three worms for one feather from your wings,” was the answer.
The lark thought this was an excellent bargain, and pulled out a feather from his wings, exchanged it for three worms which he enjoyed greatly, then spread his wings and rose again. He had not risen very far when the temptation to eat more worms became too strong for him to resist. Descending again to the garden, he bartered away two more precious feathers, had the great pleasure of eating six worms, and rose once again into the sunlit air. Balance and wing-power were lost, however, and the lark found it difficult to fly. And like an aircraft, that suddenly develops engine trouble, the lark crashed and was found dead in the lovely garden where he had met temptation and found it irresistible.
So it happens with man, again and again. He is tempted and, if he overcomes it, he grows in spiritual strength. But if he yields to it, he falls into sin. Gradually, sin becomes a habit which he can not resist: and he finds that he has become a slave of a tyrant from whose clutches he cannot find release.
(Author: J P Vaswani)
A young man wanted to make one of his companions do something bad just once, and the companion retorted: Just once? Would you allow your head to be cut off just once?” Not many have such heroic spirit within them. They easily succumb to temptation and, to them, sin becomes a habit, until they find that they are helpless in the face of temptation. They simply cannot resist it. They cannot live without it. They realise that the consequences are dangerous, but they feel helpless and lost. They are drawn to temptation even as a frog is drawn to a snake. When a snake looks at a frog and a frog has met its gaze, the frog feels helpless. There is a mesmeric power in the look of the serpent which the frog cannot resist and, irresistibly, the frog is drawn to the mouth of the snake, drawn to its own death.
St. Augustine, in one of his books tells of a young man names Eutimius. He lived a life of profligacy. He was sunk in vile pleasures and realised that he was losing his health, but just could not overcome his sinful habits. After contracting several diseases, he developed a serious eye infection, and the physician said to him: “the stage has arrived when either you will have to give up your evil habits or lose your sight!” Eutimius replied: “what can I do? I feel helpless. Let me lose my sight and if necessary, even my life, but I simply cannot give up my habits.” Such is the force of habit. Many youths become slaves of habits with which they do not break off in time.
There was a young man. His father saw him slipping into the vice of impurity. Immediately, the father took him to a hospital ward where lay patients who had led immoral lives. There they lay in spasms of pain. At the sight of those moaning patients, young men who had become prematurely aged, emaciated, ulcerated, with an unbearable stench, the youth almost fainted. Then his father said: “These are the consequences of an immoral life, and if you continue on the road to dispassion, it would not be long before you end up in this hospital. “The father’s lesson made such an impact on the youth that he immediately straightened himself out and became an example of temperance to all his companions.
There is the story of a lark who was merrily flying in the heavens. From his heights, the lark saw a small object moving in a garden far below him. Being curious to know what it was, he descended until he was quite low and, to his utter surprise, he found that it was a tiny cart with a mouse drawing , while alongside was another mouse who was waving a whip and all the time crying out: “Fresh worms for sale.”
The lark felt tempted and wanted to know the price of the worms.
“Three worms for one feather from your wings,” was the answer.
The lark thought this was an excellent bargain, and pulled out a feather from his wings, exchanged it for three worms which he enjoyed greatly, then spread his wings and rose again. He had not risen very far when the temptation to eat more worms became too strong for him to resist. Descending again to the garden, he bartered away two more precious feathers, had the great pleasure of eating six worms, and rose once again into the sunlit air. Balance and wing-power were lost, however, and the lark found it difficult to fly. And like an aircraft, that suddenly develops engine trouble, the lark crashed and was found dead in the lovely garden where he had met temptation and found it irresistible.
So it happens with man, again and again. He is tempted and, if he overcomes it, he grows in spiritual strength. But if he yields to it, he falls into sin. Gradually, sin becomes a habit which he can not resist: and he finds that he has become a slave of a tyrant from whose clutches he cannot find release.
(Author: J P Vaswani)
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