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What are we to make of the Old Testament character called Samson? What was his Achilles heal - the point or area of his life in which he was less strong? You don't have to read far into the story to realise that it was Samson's physical presence and strength that caught the attention of all and sundry. Muscles. Biceps. And, as is often the case, a person's greatest strength is often the point of his/her greatest weakness and eventual (although not inevitable) downfall.
Keeping his sexual desires under control would be a strong candidate for first on our list of of potential "Achilles heel/s" for this man. His relationship with Delilah has become somewhat synonymous with sexual looseness so, in some ways it comes as no particular shock to read,
One day Samson went to the Philistine city of Gaza and spent the night with a prostitute. (Judg 16:1-2 NLT).
There are some unique temptations that face men (and women) whose body image draws the attention and admiration of the rest of us mere mortals. Imagine Samson as a member of one of the premiership football teams in our day and age. Now think about the scandals that have plagued all codes of football. Money, Sex and Power. It would seem that Samson was very vulnerable so far as his sexuality was concerned.
Time and again we hear of contemporary Christian leaders who have led a secret double life. They publicly espouse the virtues of a righteous life while they secretly practice many of the elements of sexual immorality and perversion against which they thunder from their pulpits.
In more recent years, the emergence of the Internet has created a whole new dimension for the promotion and dissemination of pornography into the offices and homes of our nation. Could this be an Achilles' heel that reaches as far as does the Internet?
What about the issue of power? More on that in my next log entry.
