The Greatest Threat, The Greatest Help
Wilderness Survival & Selfies
One of my favorite places is Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area. I try to make an annual trip to enjoy all that this stunning landscape has to offer. There are amazing views, fantastic fishing, and the opportunity to experience the calm and quiet of being miles deep into dense wilderness, far away from the hustle and bustle of civilization.
While a place like this offers unique opportunities for peace and quiet, it can paradoxically offer unique risks and dangers as well. So, awhile back I picked up a copy of Steven Rinella’s book The MeatEater Guide to Wilderness Skills and Survival. Full of anticipation to equip myself against any and all threats, I dove into the introduction. The first bit of counsel I received was not what I expected.
Rinella begins to describe a common occurrence out in the wilderness, “It’s not uncommon to see hikers walking along the trail with their noses in their phones as they plot their satellite coordinates or text their friends ... Even more negligent is the urge to document one’s outdoor experiences for social media validation.” He points out that between 2011 and 2017, there were 259 confirmed selfie-related deaths worldwide. In the American National Parks, there were twelve deaths between 2007 and 2016 that were “associated with photography," which is more than was associated with mountain lions.
He goes on to mention stories of ice fishermen fatally falling through thin ice and campers succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning after “dozing off while trying to warm their tent with a propane stove.” He eventually drives his point home when he says this, “At the risk of alienating doomsday preppers who bought this book in order to fantasize about the zombie apocalypse, the greatest survival challenge you might encounter is the person staring back at you in the mirror.”
While a place like this offers unique opportunities for peace and quiet, it can paradoxically offer unique risks and dangers as well. So, awhile back I picked up a copy of Steven Rinella’s book The MeatEater Guide to Wilderness Skills and Survival. Full of anticipation to equip myself against any and all threats, I dove into the introduction. The first bit of counsel I received was not what I expected.
Rinella begins to describe a common occurrence out in the wilderness, “It’s not uncommon to see hikers walking along the trail with their noses in their phones as they plot their satellite coordinates or text their friends ... Even more negligent is the urge to document one’s outdoor experiences for social media validation.” He points out that between 2011 and 2017, there were 259 confirmed selfie-related deaths worldwide. In the American National Parks, there were twelve deaths between 2007 and 2016 that were “associated with photography," which is more than was associated with mountain lions.
He goes on to mention stories of ice fishermen fatally falling through thin ice and campers succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning after “dozing off while trying to warm their tent with a propane stove.” He eventually drives his point home when he says this, “At the risk of alienating doomsday preppers who bought this book in order to fantasize about the zombie apocalypse, the greatest survival challenge you might encounter is the person staring back at you in the mirror.”
You Are the Danger
This insight is informative about the normal everyday life of a Christian. Let me ask you something—what do you consider to be the most consistent threat to your spiritual survival on a day-to-day basis? What is it that puts your personal Christianity at risk most frequently?
Is it some political tide changing—the clamping down on religious freedom? Is it the encroaching pressure to acquiesce to the sexual revolution and its new doctrines around LGBTQIA+ issues? What about Satan himself, sending tailor made fiery darts right at you?
Don’t we often think that the threats, the dangers, the peril will come from “out there” somewhere? Now, Satan does have many devices he loves to use against all of us, and he does have a mass of fiery darts to dispense. But more often than not, the reason those darts find their mark on our souls is because we stumble into our daily battles having left our armor at home in the prayer closet. Perhaps it has been sitting there for some time collecting dust for lack of use.
As it is the foolish arrogance of an ice-fisherman that leads him to fall through thin ice, we too stumble into situations we should not have put ourselves in. We too “dose off,” spiritually speaking, and grow inattentive to the poison we breathe into our souls and minds, perhaps through worthless content that we consume.
When it comes to our patterns of sin, whatever they may be, we must realize that we are often our own worst enemy. And if we would truly grow in grace, we must be honest about our weaknesses. What’s more, we must be honest about our hearts and our affections.
Is it some political tide changing—the clamping down on religious freedom? Is it the encroaching pressure to acquiesce to the sexual revolution and its new doctrines around LGBTQIA+ issues? What about Satan himself, sending tailor made fiery darts right at you?
Don’t we often think that the threats, the dangers, the peril will come from “out there” somewhere? Now, Satan does have many devices he loves to use against all of us, and he does have a mass of fiery darts to dispense. But more often than not, the reason those darts find their mark on our souls is because we stumble into our daily battles having left our armor at home in the prayer closet. Perhaps it has been sitting there for some time collecting dust for lack of use.
As it is the foolish arrogance of an ice-fisherman that leads him to fall through thin ice, we too stumble into situations we should not have put ourselves in. We too “dose off,” spiritually speaking, and grow inattentive to the poison we breathe into our souls and minds, perhaps through worthless content that we consume.
When it comes to our patterns of sin, whatever they may be, we must realize that we are often our own worst enemy. And if we would truly grow in grace, we must be honest about our weaknesses. What’s more, we must be honest about our hearts and our affections.
Doing Satan's Job
I don’t know about you, but I am often astounded at how inventive and cunning my mind and heart can be in the habit of minimizing my own sinfulness in different situations. My flesh can be so perceptive to pick up any possible “excuse” that my dull mind might go for. What’s more is that this happens with ease. It is far harder for me to think about my sinfulness, understand it, and then be proactive to avoid the circumstances of temptation than it is to just create excuses.
We must never minimize our personal agency when it comes to our sin. Nothing else and no one else has ever committed one of my sins. I commit every one of my sins. You commit every one of your sins. There is nothing that is more effective in keeping someone trapped in a cycle of habitual sin than diminishing his own responsibility for it. When we do that, when we sell ourselves on the lie that we are not the problem and that it wasn’t our fault, we end up doing Satan’s job for him.
We must never minimize our personal agency when it comes to our sin. Nothing else and no one else has ever committed one of my sins. I commit every one of my sins. You commit every one of your sins. There is nothing that is more effective in keeping someone trapped in a cycle of habitual sin than diminishing his own responsibility for it. When we do that, when we sell ourselves on the lie that we are not the problem and that it wasn’t our fault, we end up doing Satan’s job for him.
Minimize Sin, Minimize Forgiveness
Consider an even more important reason we must never minimize our sin. If your sins don’t really belong to you, than forgiveness of those sins doesn’t really belong to you either. Jesus said this to the Pharisees, the undisputed “not-my-fault” champs, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12-13).
Jesus was being gentle with these folks in saying that. The Apostle John helpfully puts it in a little more black and white terms, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). We must be honest with ourselves and strive to become more self-aware of any sinful tendencies we have and own them. Full stop.
The good news that accompanies this is found in the next verse from John, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Jesus came to heal those who were sick from sin and heal them he does. The gospel makes a way not just for forgiveness but for growth and strength. In it we have all we need to face the dangers that come our way in this life. That said, we must begin by acknowledging our greatest threat if we would receive our greatest help.
Jesus was being gentle with these folks in saying that. The Apostle John helpfully puts it in a little more black and white terms, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). We must be honest with ourselves and strive to become more self-aware of any sinful tendencies we have and own them. Full stop.
The good news that accompanies this is found in the next verse from John, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Jesus came to heal those who were sick from sin and heal them he does. The gospel makes a way not just for forgiveness but for growth and strength. In it we have all we need to face the dangers that come our way in this life. That said, we must begin by acknowledging our greatest threat if we would receive our greatest help.