Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. -1 Peter 5:8 (NIV)
In Greek mythology, there was a half-giant known as Antaeus, who had the reputation of being unbeatable in wrestling, killing every opponent. He even built a temple to his father, Poseidon, out of the skulls of his fallen opponents!
En route to one of his Twelve Labors (penance), Hercules had to somehow defeat Antaeus. No matter how many times Hercules pinned or threw Antaeus, Antaeus would get back up, because Antaeus’ strength was his contact with the earth (Gaia was his mother).
How do you beat an unbeatable opponent? You don’t play their game! Hercules lifted Antaeus off the ground, then crushed him to death with a bearhug.
Sexual temptation is a lot like Antaeus, because you can’t defeat it by toying with it or wrestling with it. Just like window shopping, you think that you can just browse, but the longer you do it, the higher the chance that something or someone will catch your eye. You’ll eventually believe you “need” or “have to have” a person or thing. You’ll give the enemy a foothold.
Billy Graham once said that when it came to looking at other people (in a desirous way), we can’t help the first look if someone appears in our view…but we can choose whether we look again.
This particular Goliath is one you feed and empower simply by choosing to continue to look and think about it. And it will only grow stronger and stronger.
So, you don’t play its game. You stop feeding and fueling it with your attention. You set your sights back on Jesus. When you do that, you crush it. You suffocate it. You’ve separated it from its source of power. You break its back.
And you’ll feel your own power return, because your focus on Jesus has given you that supernatural strength to defeat what you never could on your own. As with any Goliath, God is the key to its defeat!
Leave a Reply