I (nor is anyone else reading this) am not above stumbling and falling back into the life Jesus called me out of. Therefore, I must be all the more vigilant as I continue to trust Christ to keep my feet upon solid ground. I’ve known and have felt the default mode of my heart and feelings, that is to pursue the desires of my flesh and go after the things that make much of me rather than making much of my Savior. In my experience as a pastor, many people believe the notion that things come easier for me because I have a spiritual title. People often say, “We’ll I don’t have things quite down like you do” or “you seem to have it all together.” Honestly, I do not have things “quite down” and I stumble more times than I would like to admit. Things do not come easier for me. The same feelings and struggles are all too familiar for me as well. I have just come to grips that my default mode is to drift away from Christ and never towards him. Because that is true, I have to daily present my heart, mind, and body before the Lord and ask him to keep me from stumbling. Keep my heart only for you Lord, keep my eyes fixed only on Jesus and not on the fleeting things of this world in which moth and rust destroy. Keep me married with my eyes and affections only for my wife. Keep me in the Word as it daily renews my mind so that I can discern what God’s will is for me—His good, pleasing, and perfect will. You are not alone in this battle against the desires of the flesh verses the nudging of the Holy Spirit towards the things of God. Unfortunately, many of us are afraid to admit that there is a struggle going on in our hearts as if it were a solitary issue no one else deals with. We begin to believe the lies: Surely no one else is struggling like I do. Everyone else in the church seems to have it all together. Why am I the only one dealing with this issue over and over?