Trust and Temptations

"The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" so the old saying goes...

The picture that comes to my mind here is me going to my favorite buffet place and knowing that I am on a diet.

It's a lost cause. Before you know it, the diet starts tomorrow...after the buffet today.

What's the image that comes to your mind? Is it going to the 3-day sale, buying stuff you don't need when your credit cards are maxed out? Or is it calling in sick to sleep in when you actually had too much fun the night before...come on fess up, we all have that mental image in our mind where we give in...we''ll change our ways tomorrow, no harm done.

But wait, the next time you give in to your temptations, to overeat, to sleep in, to overspend, to smoke, to skip that daily exercise routine or to lose your cool...you should know that by doing so, you are unwittingly letting people know that you are not to be trusted.

Folks relationships are built on trust, if you are showing people that you have a problem with self-control - then you are chipping away its foundations. Don't be surprised, if one day, you wake to find that the relationship is lost.

Studies published in the Journal of Personal and Social Psychology show that people trust those who they see are better able to control their behavior and resist temptations, they are in effect saying, "If you are able to control yourself, I will trust you!"

Now if you think about it, this makes a lot of sense.

We trust people because we know that when times are tough, or when it might be tempting for them to put their own interests first, they’ll resist temptation and do what’s right.

Will power or self-control is the ultimate trust builder and you earn people's trust by exercising it.

But wait, how can we exercise self-control when it's already a lost cause?

Well, the practical answer here is for us to do our best not to put ourselves in those difficult situations in the first place.

And if there's no avoiding it and the going gets tough, I've also found that the answer is to lean not on my own will power, but on God's. If I am not able to control myself, He is infinitely able.

The bible says in Proverbs 3:5-6, "5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
Do you have a problem resisting temptations, but desire to be trusted?

Lean on God, trust in HIM for He is able to resist all temptations for you and He will make your paths straight.