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James 4:1-4 – Our Defining Moments
Thomas Paine wrote “These are the times that try men’s souls.” He wrote these remembered and revealing words in the pamphlet ‘American Crisis’ (tract 1) during the winter of Valley Forge. He wrote in a way to encourage soldiers and the public to continue to fight in the Revolution despite the many and severe hardships the war was putting everyone through. Following those opening words, Mr. Paine wrote,
“The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.”
A moment in time is all that it takes; just a moment to reveal who we truly are. That moment can last for only a second, or that moment can be more enduring, testing our endurance. Those personal revelations, those public declarations, are often the truest and purest look into our souls that can encourage, frighten, challenge or depress us. These are our defining moments.
Go back into your own lives; can you remember these moments?
Character forms the events of our lives; and events form our character. It is not an “either-or” situation, but a continuous circle of change and continuity. Within our histories, both individual and collective, whether personal, national, congregational, or familial, there are events, periods of times, incidences, and happenings, sometimes singular in existence, or coincidentally repetitive, that are formative in defining and describing who we are. We are what we are because of what we have done, or what has happened to us. We are what we are because of how we react to the events of our lives. These are the moments in time that tell us, others, and God our true identity, unmasked and unveiled. These are the moments that define our relationships. These moments can be triumphs or failures, and often both at the same time.
Our defining moments can be born by our free will, temptations from the devil, and even tests from God. But ultimately, they are brought about by our free will. For we, and only we, decide in the moment of temptation or testing, how we define ourselves. Often the reactions can be only partially understood because we do not see the real reaction. That is when we have to dig deep into our own minds, to search and reveal ourselves ironically, to ourselves.
When tempted, we see ourselves in particular – warts and strengths; and we see humanity in general. We see Jesus, whether in imitation or by antithesis. In temptation, we also see the insidious genius and hatred of Satan. An unanswerable question is whether Satan’s hatred is for us personally, or a hatred of anything and all that God creates, or a hatred for God? Considering what we know about our Accuser, all of the above would appear to be an appropriate answer.
All of us are going to have to confront Satan because he chooses the battle ground, and the point of attack. The war is on. In the recorded history of the temptation of Jesus, the Holy Spirit used these words to describe the opponent of Jesus and our opponent:
- Satan – Adversary
- Devil – Slanderer
- Tempter – alludes to our desires
Each name of our spiritual enemy is a reflection on who we are, or who we are going to be. Each name relates us to Satan when we are tempted. We are the Devil’s adversary and he is ours. His weapon is slander. We are striving to live above slander, but slandered we will be, and slander we will do. Too often we do not live above our base desires, and then sadly we can be rightly accused and slandered without fault. Succumbing to sin we are no longer Satan’s adversary. We are his partner. We have switched sides in the cosmic battle. That is a scary and discomforting thought.
James 4:1-4 HCSB What is the source of the wars and the fights among you? Don’t they come from the cravings that are at war within you? (2) You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask. (3) You ask and don’t receive because you ask wrongly, so that you may spend it on your desires for pleasure. (4) Adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? So whoever wants to be the world’s friend becomes God’s enemy.
“But everyone has their own temptation.” (Bernice Kanner, Are You Normal?, p.90). To each their own, is why temptation is revealing. And every time temptation mirrors our soul as Satan sees us to be, we become reminded of temptation’s revealing power. This battle begins with temptation, and ends with our decision when it is revealed who we are, and who we want to be. The battle rages on. “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
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