Doughnuts, Other Temptations, and How to Resist Them

(This post was originally published at the blog Grass People. Read it at https://aworldofgrasspeople.blogspot.com/2018/03/doughnuts-other-temptations-and-how-to.html.)

The breakroom at work can be a pretty dangerous place.

Sometimes working at the office feels like a continual birthday. It’s not that we don’t get things done or that we’re having parties all the time. But it seems like there’s always some carb-loaded, sugar-filled treat waiting for me on the counter of the breakroom, courtesy of a coworker’s birthday. Since it’s a smaller company and the business owners are abundant in generosity, everyone gets a company-paid-for birthday treat to share in honor of their special day.

There are only fifty-two weeks in a year, right? And this company has roughly twenty employees, so that’s a birthday treat every two and a half weeks. The weeks in between, someone’s bound to bring in doughnuts for the Monday morning meetings or a treat of cookies just for fun. And, really. How can you say no to a free gift of sugar?

At least, that’s what I ask myself most days when I enter the breakroom only to come face-to-face with (gasp) another full box of Tim Horton’s doughnuts.

I always take at least one share of pretty much any treat that comes into that breakroom. And that’s okay—I’ve chosen to allow myself that. For now, at least, my body can handle it. It’s the second helping that really tempts me. I try to say no since “one is plenty,” as most mothers would say. But that desire for “one more” often overtakes my self-control. So, I give in and guiltily indulge in yet another cookie or slice of cake. Even though I know I shouldn’t.

That knowledge of my wrongdoing bothers me every time. Why do I do it even though I know I shouldn’t and even though I know it will make me feel a little more gross and a little more guilty afterwards? Am I dumb or something? Well, perhaps not exactly “dumb,” but I am stuck in a “body of death,” as Paul himself said when he complained about similar tendencies in Romans. (And no, by “similar,” I don’t mean that Paul also had a thing for frosted pink doughnuts with sprinkles.)

On the day of one coworker’s birthday, I was particularly aware of this tendency of mine. I had happily enjoyed one doughnut earlier that morning and, as usual, told myself, “only one.” But, upon returning to the breakroom in the afternoon, I was shocked to discover a Tim Horton’s box still sitting on the counter. “You told yourself no, Leah, so don’t do it,” my brain told me. That’s when the culprit spoke up. “Oh, but you should just look to see if there’s one left that you’d like.” That was my stomach speaking. “Just give it a peep.”

Woah, man. Almost sounds like a rendition of Eve’s moment of temptation in the garden. Talk about warning bells.

Thanks to my several months of experience, I knew what the outcome would be if I chose to take that peep. I knew that simply looking at those doughnuts would make it nearly impossible for me to say no to them. So, in a moment of Holy Spirit-filled fortitude, my chest pushed out the words, “Don’t do it, Leah.” I turned on my heel and evaded the counter as I flung myself out of the room.

The situation kind of made me laugh at myself. It all seemed rather dramatic for such a silly thing as a doughnut. However, as I returned to my office, the weight of the whole matter struck me. It was never about the doughnuts. It was about the temptation.

In a way, the temptation I faced in that moment wasn’t exactly to eat another doughnut. It was to look into the box. The temptation was to consider the possibility of indulging in gluttony. Once I decided not to look, it became a lot easier to walk away. But looking would have sealed my fate.

It struck me that this is true of all temptations: they're a lot easier to resist if we dismiss them immediately. Sin is a lot easier to resist if we choose not to consider it. I’m not saying that you can automatically block all sinful thoughts from your mind before they even enter. But you can choose to kick out those thoughts once they arrive.

Sometimes, I think, we like to indulge those sorts of thoughts. We know they’re bad news, but we still invite them in, let them sit on our sofas, and give them each a cup of tea. We know deep down that they’ll probably end up causing problems. But we lie to ourselves, saying, “Oh, they’re harmless, really. Would you fellows like cream or sugar?” Once we’ve welcomed those thoughts so warmly—once we’ve opened that Tim Horton’s box—it’s hard to kick them out without giving them what they came for. Which means we end up with the hypothetical doughnut in our mouths.

I struggle with far greater sins besides simply eating a second doughnut. But this perilous breakroom situation helped me realize that, when it comes to the other sins I struggle with, the key is to not consider them. Saying no to them would be lots easier if I would only stop thinking about those sins and start thinking about other things instead. Things like, say, God. He’s given us lots to think about when it comes to himself and his nature, and he’s given us lots of fellow humans. If we would only turn our thoughts out of our stomachs and toward our Creator and our neighbors, maybe thoughts of sin would stop making themselves at home in our minds.

So put down the doughnuts and chew on that thought. I just hope they don’t leave the doughnut box open next time.