Avoiding Temptation

Last Saturday I blogged about trying to overcome some recurring sins by following the advice of Earl Nightingale - you become what you think about.

I love to listen to Christian rock. These days, with a few detours into AC/DC, Judas Priest and Van Halen, it's all I consume. For the next 30 days, as I drive or take walks, I will turn on my Newsboys Pandora station and focus on the words, applying them to my two sins. When it's a song about failing and trying again, I'll think of times where I've failed. When it's a praise song, I'll think about how controlling these sins will glorify God. When it's a song of loss, I'll think of how my sins have hurt others.

It's worked to some extent, but there's something missing from the effort. That is, I need to avoid the things that trigger the unwanted thoughts. Anger wasn't one of the things I was working on, but it was front and center this week, brought on by my consumption of political posts on Facebook and Twitter. It was really rough as the progressive onslaught upon the culture and their obsession with race was infuriating. I felt like no one was responding with the right questions when accusations of racial oppression were raised.

Enough. I've posted about that here over and over again. I'm not changing anything by consuming that rubbish. In addition to listening to my music and trying to apply it to my sins, I'm going to lay off political Twitter and avoid Facebook as well. I've already stopped following a lot of political people on Twitter and I no longer visit Real Clear Politics, so that's a start. When I avoid those things, I find I have much, much better days.

So there you have it. Maybe that can help you, too. More likely, you're already ten steps ahead of me.

Have a great Sunday.