The biggest thing I’ve noticed is how much smoother my third hour runs compared to my second hour. After going through everything once during second hour, I’m able to make small little adjustments in how I explain something or how I manage the time for “take two,” and it noticeably increases my effectiveness as a teacher. Just today, I consciously adjusted the way I explained part of a capitalization rule the second time around. It helped to deepen students’ understanding, and it allowed them to be more successful when practicing the skill independently. As I walked around monitoring student progress, I thought to myself, My third hour students are so lucky! Every single day, they get the benefit of my lessons learned from anything that went poorly in the class right before them. They don’t even realize their good fortune!

This made me think about when I face the same temptations repeatedly … and fall into the same sin repeatedly. How am I using my lessons learned from the first time around to approach things differently the second (and third, fourth, fifth, etc.) times around? Am I letting the same temptation lure me into sin over and over and over again? Or am I getting smart about it and trying to be proactive about stopping my slide into sin before it happens?

Obviously none of us can do a perfect job of proactively and strategically avoiding sin because we’re human, and humans are imperfect. But we can take a close look at our circumstances and take the proper steps to set ourselves up for as much success/non-sinful-behavior as possible. Why not put yourself in the best possible position you can!? 

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. -1 Peter 5:8-10

These sobering yet encouraging words in 1 Peter are helpful to me because they remind me that Satan is out there intentionally looking for ways to bring me down. He does not want me to do anything that brings me closer to God, furthers His mission or spreads His love to the world around me. In order to effectively resist Satan, as the passage directs, I must be purposeful and calculated. This might include asking questions like:

• What usually happens right before I give into that one specific sin?
• How can I break that pattern that leads to sinful behavior? 
• Who in my life tends to pull me away from Jesus? …through our conversation, time spent, etc.?
• What is it that regularly triggers my problematic decisions?

Perhaps the answers to these questions are stirring up something inside of you. Maybe God is convicting you of one particular sin that is a repeated offense … that you could wise up to and actively work against. For example: If you know that a lack of sleep causes you to lose your patience and be unkind to your family or coworkers, how can you adjust your evening routine so that you get to bed on time? If you always end up sitting and gossiping when you get together with one particular person, have you thought about limiting that person’s amount of time and influence in your life? If your pre-bedtime routine of doom-scrolling on your phone, and you end up looking at things that are not honoring to God, could you start a new routine of turning your phone off before you lay down in bed?

Don’t let predictable, repeated patterns pull you into sin’s stronghold. If I plan an activity with my second hour world literature class that completely bombs, why on earth would I repeat it the exact same way with my third hour students? I wouldn’t! That would be completely crazy. I would think through what went wrong, make the necessary adjustments and try it again with the applied changes during the following class period. You can easily apply this same mindset to your life. Nothing will ever solve the sin problem completely on this side of eternity, but if you can identify some problematic triggers and patterns and then make helpful changes, why wouldn’t you do that? 

Satan is on the prowl. Right now.

Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up. You’re not the only ones plunged into these hard times. It’s the same with Christians all over the world. So keep a firm grip on the faith. The suffering won’t last forever. It won’t be long before this generous God who has great plans for us in Christ—eternal and glorious plans they are!—will have you put together and on your feet for good. He gets the last word; yes, he does. -1 Peter 8-11 (The Message)