This probably only applies to me, but I have this weird relationship with pickles.
Technically, I don’t like pickles. They just taste weird. Not a fan. A bit on the “gross side.” Though I am quite a fan of sandwich places, they frequently assault the flavor profile of their version of an Italian sub (my order at every sandwich place) with a pickle spear on the side, leaking its sour juices all over my meal.
No thanks.
However… there’s a catch. If I happen to take a bite of a pickle, perhaps out of desperation for refreshment or because a fanciful notion that maybe I like pickles crosses my mind, I’ll keep eating it. When I eat a pickle, though I still canonically think pickles are gross, I can’t seem to help myself. If I start a pickle, chances are I’m going to finish it.
Since my childhood, I’ve had this exact weird relationship with pickles. I don’t like them, but I’m going to finish it. Something compels me to take another bite even when my taste buds protest. It’s a weird battle.
People eat food they don’t like for all kinds of reasons. Maybe your partner made it and you power through out of love. Maybe your parents guilted you into finishing your whole plate with vague references to “starving orphans in Africa” or said you have to eat all your green beans to get dessert. A month ago, a co-worker was eating some weirdly flavored popcorn and announced to anyone who would listen that it was disgusting, asking if they wanted a sample. Everyone else agreed—it was gross. However, the teacher kept eating the popcorn because, as she told me, she hated being wasteful and had spent her hard-earned money on the treat.
I personally can’t quite explain why I eat pickles when I don’t like them. It just happens. No matter how weird pickles are, there’s a fatal attraction.
You’ve likely guessed where I am going with this: my relationship with pickles is a whole lot like all of our relationships with sin.
We don’t “like it” but we do it anyway.
Of course, sin usually comes with some kind of pleasurable component—it gratifies us physically, emotionally, or socially. It has its benefits. But most of us have a radar when it comes to sin, beeping when we get too close. It’s called our conscience. And while conscience can be wrong, more often than not, it’s revealing the truth about something. If it “feels wrong” to engage in a practice, you are probably getting a good solid clue from God that it is indeed wrong.
Still, we push past that good guilt and end up in sin.
I once spoke with a Christian, rather conservative religiously and politically, who admitted to losing count of how many sexual partners they had had. They guessed it would be in the triple digits! I asked this person how they interpreted the Bible to justify this lifestyle—they admitted that they fully believed extramarital sex was a serious sin and they had no way to justify their behavior. This person even feared Hell because of all the rampant sexual sin in their life. Yet, despite all that, they kept willingly engaging in the behavior.
Paul sympathizes with this kind of struggle, a war between what we know is good and what we want to do. He writes in Romans 7:15, 17-23…
“I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. …As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.”
Relatable, Paul! In verses 17 and 18, he explains why his body and soul don’t seem to be on the same page: sin is hanging out inside him, corrupting things, making a mess! No matter what we believe, sometimes the pull of sin is too much.
While the proper mindset is important, thinkers like James Clear of Atomic Habits or Benjamin P. Hardy of Willpower Doesn’t Work emphasize that data shows that wishing to be better is not an effective way to get better. They note that if you want to change your behavior, you change your environment! Something must be altered in the external world since we can’t rely on the power of our internal world. A recovering alcoholic shouldn’t hang out at bars, don’t you think?
If it were a sin to eat pickles, then I may need to avoid sandwich shops that sneak a pickle sliver next to my sandwich. Or I need a friend who will slap that pickle out of my hand when I delude myself into thinking maybe it’ll taste good this time. I could perhaps create a practice that reminds me of the innate yuckiness of a pickle. And I should definitely surround myself with plenty of non-pickle-eaters to encourage me!
In Romans 8, right after Paul complains of how sin ignores his desire to do good, Paul notes that lucky for us, Christ was sacrificed to once and for all loose our bondage to sin. He then urges us to connect with the Spirit because it’s the only force powerful enough to resist sin’s command over flesh. Paul even writes in Romans 8:26-27 that the Spirit steps in when we are weak, when we are unable to pray, advocating for us.
We don’t need a super-serum, magic hammer, or high-tech armor: all believers are equipped with the Holy Spirit as our superpower. At the moment when sin is attracting us, we can call on the Holy Spirit to get us out of a jam. Even when we don’t have the words, the Spirit will groan for us. It will groan with us.
We have to replace the pull of sin with something better: the pull of the Spirit. The Spirit is the new external environment we must bathe in. It’s the training camp to overcome the urges we act on but know we shouldn’t. As noted in 1 Timothy 1:7, “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” And if you know all your fruits of the Spirit, you’ll remember that last one is very good at combating temptation: self-control.
Relying more and more on the Spirit deafens the cries of our flesh. The Spirit helps align our desires with God, which is a feat only Jesus managed to perfection. Nevertheless, we strive to reach that state as closely as possible.
A year ago, I heard a line at a healthy relationship conference that stuck with me and is a relevant reminder here. They kept repeating: “When you live consistently within your belief system, you will have peace.” I liked it so much, it’s now in my email signature!
They recognized that in relationships there is often a tempting thought that “the grass is greener on the other side,” but most of us know intrinsically that it is good to stay committed to one person. They understood that at the end of the day, if you truly want peace and satisfaction, it isn’t going to come from chasing immediate gratification—it’s going to come from doing what you know you need to do based on your values. If you want an easy way to wreck your life, then by all means go against your conscience and build your house on the sand—see how that works out for ya.
I don’t want to ignore that voice inside of me that says, “This is bad, even if it feels a little good now.” I don’t want to simply ignore the testimony of Scripture and give in to my desires. I don’t want to be a pathetic slave of sin with no self-control. I don’t want to keep eating the proverbial pickle, even when it doesn’t taste right.
So I need the Holy Spirit, the only power that can put the flesh in its place, the only force able to rewrite the story so we don’t so easily drown in sin. Then, as Paul notes in Romans 8, the chapter after complaining about how sin leads him to do things he doesn’t want to do, we can be more than conquerors. With the Holy Spirit, we can finally best the corrupted desires inside of us.
That sounds like a good life to me.
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My “Goings On”
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Working on Super Jake book 3! Which was supposed to be done a while ago…
Pickles are gross,
Jake Doberenz
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