How about Every Single Second of Every Single Day?

Published on by D. G. Hart

Tim Challies would have us believe — channeling John Owen — that temptations to sin come in seasons, the way the leaves turn colors:

We live in a world that is full of temptation. There is no rest from sin and no rest from temptation to sin. There is not a single moment when we can relax our vigilance. As John Owen says, we can leave sin alone when sin leaves us alone, and that will not be until we are on the far side of the grave.

Temptations can be like the waves of the sea as they break along the beach—they rise and fall, they ebb and flow. Yet temptations are not entirely unpredictable, and there are certain times in life in which they are more likely to press hard than in others. Here are 4 times or seasons in which you need to be especially vigilant against temptation.

TMI about (all about) me, but I wish temptations came so seasonally. But if every time I leave the house I’m annoyed if someone gets in my way (on the road, sidewalk, stairs, hallway, or cafeteria line), how gradual is that?

And I thought these guys were the great explorers of the soul’s depths.

8 thoughts on “How about Every Single Second of Every Single Day?”

  1. Looks like I’m in the clear:

    1) Don’t make much money and upset a lot of people
    2) Make use of the ordinary means of grace
    3) Have found the Christian life to be a constant death to self
    4) See first three points (esp. #3)

    I guess I’m just subject to the constant onslaught of temptation, O wretched man that I am.

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  2. this was a great read, speaking of the puritans. Paragraph one to perhaps pique the reader’s interest:

    Within the Presbyterian community the Puritans receive a great deal of admiration, praise, and respect for their spirituality, devotion, and theological acumen. Publishing houses such as Banner of Truth and Soli Deo Gloria are a testimony to their enduring value. A number of Puritan theologians of greater and lesser recognition have been resurrected from historical obscurity through the republication of many of their works. Who has not seen the works of John Owen (1616-83), Richard Baxter (1615-91), Thomas Goodwin (1600-79), or John Flavel (1628-91) adorning ministers’ shelves? They are often read with great admiration for their theological depth, precision, and pastoral care. However, it seems that many who read them fail to appreciate a dimension of their theology—namely their theological methodology. In other words, when a person is asked what time it is, he will give the time of day. However, ask this same question in a watchmaker’s shop, and one might receive a different answer. As one is surrounded by various timekeeping pieces ticking away, some silently, some rather noisily, others ornate and garish, and still yet others austere and utilitarian, the watchmaker might offer explanations as to how a particular watch functions and how it was made. Too often, readers of Puritan works are merely interested in asking them what time it is, when the Puritans are like a watchmaker sitting in his shop surrounded by hundreds of watches. In other words, we merely read the Puritans looking to see how we can be moved by a particular passage or to search for some sort of insight. How often do we read the Puritans and take note of how they have come to their conclusions, and in particular, what sources they have employed?

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  3. The four seasons I face temptation:

    (1) Cubs baseball season
    (2) Iowa State football season
    (3) Cubs hot stove league season as they sign overpriced free agents
    (4) Cubs April season as it becomes apparent that they will not contend again this year

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  7. To me, Challies thinks so much about living a disciplined life and mortifying sin, it seems to totally consume him – and he writes so very little about Christ. Sorry to be so blunt, but he is always focusing on ‘us’ and ‘our responsibility’, and it seems as though he is uncomfortable thinking upon the greatness of Christ’s finished work on our behalf. I think I noticed a connection between their church and Sovereign Grace ministries (even if tangential) – and that would explain a lot of it (C.J. Mahaney casts a long shadow, and it takes years to come undone from his influence).

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