You’ve Been Fighting Temptation the Hard Way—St. Paul Had a Better Strategy
Deacon Eric Paige shares the surprisingly simple habit that can help you overcome temptation one small decision at a time.
Deacon Eric Paige
Director of Deacon Services, Archdiocese of Seattle
“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ”
“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.”
(Romans 13:14)
The Mile That Almost Broke Me
After my first wrestling season in High School, I discovered I needed to boost my endurance. So I resolved to go to the track and run at least three miles each day over summer break. The track at my old Junior High a mile away and the route there was partially downhill so that wasn’t hard. Running that mile back wasn’t a problem either.
There was proximate motivation. I would be running home where there would be food. No, my problem was the mile in the middle. Running around the track over and over again, my mind kept devising justifications to cut the run short and the more I thought about quitting, the harder it was to keep going.
The Trick That Changed Everything
One day, however, I discovered something that helped: reverse procrastination. When I got tired, I would tell myself that I would just finish the particular lap that I was running, promising myself, ‘when I got to the gate that leads to the route home, then I will stop running.’
Then, when I got to the gate, I would tell myself, ‘let’s just do one more lap. Then, we can quit.’ As soon as the gate was out of view, I could renew the self-deception. Using this ‘reverse procrastination’ method, I was able to keep at the running until my endurance improved and I found I enjoyed it.
St. Paul Was Teaching This Long Before Me
This was no original discovery on my part. St. Paul thought of this method long ago. In his letter to the Romans he tells them to “put on Christ and make no provision for the sins of the flesh” (Romans 13:14) St. Paul knew that Rome offered his friends many temptations.
Living a Christian life there was like a long distance race. These new Christians would have to ignore the voice of doubt telling them ‘this is too hard, the race is too long, let’s quit today, maybe we can try again tomorrow.’
St. Paul ‘flipped the script’ on this temptation telling the Romans to use their own version of reverse procrastination by making “no provisions for the sins of the flesh.”
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FEATURE
How Reverse Procrastination Defeats Sin
To defeat gluttony, the sinner simply neglects to buy that piece of cake while they are at the store telling themselves, ‘if I really need it, I can just come always come back later.’ Then, when tempted at home, they procrastinate getting the cake by saying ‘it’s such a hassle going to the store, I will just have some fruit tonight. There will always be cake tomorrow.’
Then, when tomorrow comes, the sinner can once again defer gratification knowing they can always misbehave the next day.
Like our wrestling coach who, after we had done what felt like a million pushups at practice would yell, ‘just ten more’ only to yell ‘just 5 more’ after we had done the ten and then ‘just five more’ after we had done that five, St. Paul was leading these new Christians into lives of virtue with repeated small commitments until virtue came naturally.
Why This Matters More Than Ever Today
In a time when smart phones make distraction, overspending and other sins a continual temptation, St. Paul’s ‘reverse procrastination’ technique can be invaluable. We can delete the distracting game from our phone and tell ourselves, if I ever need to play it, I can always reload it.
But today I will do my homework and visit my friends. If going to Mass on Sunday seems like a hassle, we can just tell ourselves ‘I’ll go today, if it’s really too burdensome, I can always skip next week.’ If we are mad at our brother or sister and we really want to tell them off, we can just tell ourselves ‘I will let it go today.
I can always lose my patience some other time.’
Small Decisions Become Lasting Virtue
Of course, this method is just one tool among many to live a virtuous life. But it can sometimes be very helpful. St. Paul’s ingeniously uses it knowing that virtue is more habit forming than sin.
Our Lord designed us to live in grace and will help us to so. When those voices of doubt and fear tell us ‘a life of virtue is too hard, the race is too long’ we can take St.
Paul’s advice neglecting the bad while attending to the good.
Deacon Eric Paige
Director of Deacon Services, Archdiocese of Seattle
