Daryl Hall and John Oates: "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)"

This early-eighties hit by Hall and Oates is about a woman who wants her boyfriend's soul but like he said in the song, he couldn't "go" for that. Listen to this song here:

In our Christian lives, there are things we also won't allow. Sin is the chief no-no we struggle against.

Paul certainly knew the pull of the tempter. In Romans 7:14 (Bible in Basic English), he told his readers how the law alerts the flesh to sin. "For we are conscious that the law is of the spirit; but I am of the flesh, given into the power of sin. And I have no clear knowledge of what I am doing, for that which I have a mind to do, I do not, but what I have hate for, that I do."

In humility, we are able to fend off the temptation to compromise our beliefs for a little pleasure. James 4:7 (BBE) reminds us, "For this cause be ruled by God; but make war on the Evil One and he will be put to flight before you."

And even if we suffer for doing what's right instead of taking advantage of a sinful situation, we can be pleased to suffer for righteousness' sake. Joseph's imprisonment on a false charge of sexual molestation is a case in point.

Genesis 39:17-20 (BBE) shows how Potiphar's cheating wife blamed Joseph for not lying with her. "Then she gave him the same story, saying, 'The Hebrew servant whom you have taken into our house came in to make sport of me; And when I gave a loud cry he went running out without his coat.' And hearing his wife's account of what his servant had done, he became very angry. And Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, in the place where the king's prisoners were kept in chains, and he was there in the prison-house."

Just as Joseph was compensated for his suffering later on, so we will be blessed if we hold to the truth.

If Christ hasn't returned by Thursday, I'll post about how things in the world never seem to change.