Week 6 - Philadelphia
Task: Identify a temptation or distraction that you want to lay down this week and record your journey as you rely on the Holy Spirit to give you the power to overcome it.
Phoebe lee
For task 6, the temptation that kept coming up for me was to be lazy and do, well, nothing. The juxtaposition between days when I go into the office and days when I don’t is startling, and even on days when I go into the office, the extent to which I seek out God at home v.s. when I’m not home is very uneven. In the four days I go in, I read the Bible, listen to sermons, memorize verses, and even have QT (especially if I miss the LIRR). The time I spend commuting is perfected to be as efficient as possible, but the second I get home, it’s as though my desire to stay with God dissipates. And on days when I don’t go anywhere and can stay home the entire day? It’s game over — getting motivation to do anything, much less read the Word, listen to a sermon, or spend meaningful time with Him, is at an all-time low.
Truthfully, I thought this was fine and maybe even needed, that surely everyone has to rest, right? But I feel like God has been showing me that this temptation to do nothing is displeasing to Him and that I need to spend time with Him throughout the day, not just when I have to fill up the time. Not only that, but this stems from a desire to rest and unwind, yet paradoxically, I seldom find myself feeling rested from “doom” scrolling, “doom” watching videos, or “doom” doing anything. It’s clear that the rest I’m trying to obtain can only be found in Him, but the temptation to disengage my brain overrides any logical thought.
Coming out of Lent, God has been challenging me to give Him the firstfruits of my time so that on a Friday at 7 AM when I don’t need to go into the office or on a Tuesday at 9 PM when I can finally wind down, I would intentionally seek Him instead, whether that be in prayer, reading the Bible, or reflecting on a key verse. And I hope, especially, that my desire to do this would not be contingent on how much I had done earlier or would do later that day, but that I may have a heart that always delights in Him day and night, meditating on His Word.
John Minami
This past week, I had a client who was very difficult to work with. He was abrasive and unreasonable; he treated me and my team very unfairly. When I shared with my co-workers my plight, they immediately took my side and agreed the client was being a jerk. Even other members of the client’s team had reached out and apologized on his behalf. I felt like everyone was on “my side” and I was “right” in judging the client and disliking him.
But throughout the week, God kept putting him on my heart when I would pray. I felt God nudging me and challenging my feelings. Was how I felt towards him how God wanted me to feel? I argued with God: “God, look at how he treats me. How can you NOT agree with how I feel towards him? Am I not justified?” Through my prayers and wrestling with my thoughts and “righteousness,” I struggled to “flip” that switch in my own heart. I could, in my head, understand where God might be coming from, but in my heart, that judgment persisted. While not a conventional temptation or distraction, my being “right” was a huge stumbling block in my own heart.
It wasn’t until I prayed and asked for the power of the Holy Spirit to come into my heart and help me to understand and love that I was able to finally truly see what God saw: a broken man living in a broken world who was used to doing business in a cutthroat manner. And this was my chance to respond with love, with Christ’s love. Especially with this week being Passion Week and Easter Sunday coming up, I was thankful the Holy Spirit was able to move and change my heart for this one soul that was placed in my life. I pray and hope that I may continue to have more of Christ’s love with all whom I encounter. I especially want to have that heart for those who do not deserve it, as I am also one who did not deserve that same love and grace from our beautiful Lord and Savior.