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…You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later… We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.
C.S. Lewis – Mere Christianity
I left work a little early, put my board in the car and rode down toward Waikiki with my buddy. Traffic down to Town was a nightmare, and the forecast indicated that sand island was likely to be just as good as town anyway. It was closer so we pulled out of traffic and toward the sand island break. It’s past the coast guard base (which I didn’t even know existed) in a less than scenic portion of the Honolulu Harbor complex. High chain link fences, a few walls, some barriers, graffiti, and large shipping vessels dotted the horizon around us. Our first clue that it wasn’t going to be much fun for the day should have been that only two other people were there. They had decided to come in from shore and play hackey sack instead of continue surfing. Still, my buddy and I had the itch. We needed some waves, so we went and made it happen.
There are a couple entry points out into the water from there, but we entered from behind a series of jetties that created a calm section in the water. Winds were something like twenty-five or thirty knots. It wasn’t long past the jetty that we realized it wasn’t the best day. Ok that’s an understatement. It was a straight trash surf day. The water was choppy like a deep sea fishing excursion and it was almost impossible to see while paddling for the waves as bits of spray would blow into your eyes and sting your face. We also didn’t know the spot well, so we kept having to pull off waves due to poor positioning near shallow reef and a wall between us and the actual shore line.
After about ninety minutes of struggling, (I think my friend caught one wave, and I had a big goose egg.) we were much farther from our entry point than we thought, and there were barriers to returning to the beach any other way than where we entered. The wind whipped the surface of the water in a cross pattern that almost churned the surface of the water. It was an exhausting, blinding, brutal paddle back to shore as the surface current from the strong winds fought us every single stroke. If we stopped or paused to rest for too long, we would be pulled back outward. It was a water treadmill that persistently sprayed your face and tried to flip you over. Eventually, blessedly, we made it back.
There are plenty of lessons we could draw from this misadventure. Know the conditions. Think before you go out. Don’t be too greedy for what you want. Still the quote from C.S. Lewis that I placed at the beginning of this post seems most apt. The wind was at our back as we headed toward the break, so we hardly noticed it except that it ruined our waves (and fun), but once we had to go against it the story was wholly changed. Often when we are traveling in the wrong direction in life, it feels very easy indeed. When temptation is sweeping us along, we can claim we know what it’s like – its strength and power, but we don’t know the first thing about just how far it will take us, and how difficult it will be to get back until we turn and resist.
I have often puzzled over the idea that Christ was “tempted in every way, yet without sin.” I sometimes am guilty of thinking somehow that Christ dealt with less temptation, which made his road easier. After all, He doesn’t have a sin nature. That is foolish, obviously, but Lewis’ reformulation, as well as my own experience fighting the winds paddling back to shore that day, remind me in fractions just how incredible our Lord is to have never given in to temptation – not once, in His entire life. He was and is the perfect man. The God-man to be sure, but touching His humanity He is the new Adam – the father of the new race of human beings who God has called to be His children. He is a priest forever not based on lineage or special rites, but on the basis of an “indestructible life” (Hebrews 7:16).
Two quick lessons here. First: In your own struggles against temptations, whether that be for a particular sin, being swept up in the patterns of the world, ideologies, or the like, remember Him who endured such things on your behalf and submit to His strength which bore every possible temptation and to a far greater degree than we can imagine. Second: Don’t chase the wrong waves on the wrong day – in other words, be careful where you are directing your desires. A little discernment goes a long way in dealing with temptation, largely by avoiding the occasion for it. For all of us who have fallen at various times, we understand just how painful it can be to paddle back to where we are supposed to be. After two hours, much exhaustion, and who knows how many liters of swallowed sea water, I caught exactly zero waves and had only muscle soreness and immense thirst to boast in. If you can’t draw the parallels with that to your own struggles against sin, then please contact me to teach me your ways.
A Man Under Authority
July 3, 2023 - 4:49 am ·Too true. Good practical advice for those struggling with habitual sin too. Avoid the environment that you’re tempted in, change your habits and routine, whether mental or physical or both. Temptation will still come, but it won’t be a battlefield you’ve lost on so many times before, and that helps.