The Wolf Feeding

There’s a story about an old Indian chief sitting before a flickering fire with his grandson. The boy had broken a tribal law, and his grandpa wanted to help him understand what made him do it. “It’s like we have two wolves inside us,” said the chief. “One is good, the other is bad. Both demand our obedience.” battle with selfish and sinful desires. They rise up within us and put incredible pressure on us to satisfy them. They are like hungers we can’t ever fulfil. First they are small, ‘harmless’ desires, but they grow stronger and can end up controlling us (Romans 6:16).

To resist, we must believe what the Bible tells us about temptation’s power. We must also believe that the Holy Spirit will help us to resist or to break free from its power.

“Which one wins?” asked the boy.

“The one we feed!” said the wise old chief.

Every follower of Jesus Christ can identify with that struggle. We fight an ongoing

But then comes the hard part. When a selfish desire demands to be fed, we must say no—perhaps again and again and again. Paul said, “Do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Romans 13:14).

Remember, what we feed will control us.

—Dave Egner

Lord, grant me strength from day to day— How prone I am to go astray!

[My selfish passions] are strong; O God, please shield me from all wrong. —D. DeHaan