Steroid use... a new form of "temptation". Why has steroid use become so rampant in sports? You probably have heard that Floyd Landis, the Tour de France victor has tested positive in a drug test. However, based on my understanding, he was taking some other medication that may have produced a "false positive" in this drug test. I hope the test reveals a "false positive." This has been a great story and I, for one, would hate to see it destroyed by performance enhancing drug use.
Which leads to another question; "Why are so many athletes using performance enhancing drugs?" One would presume it's to get "an edge" on other athletes. In order to be a "great" baseball player many current athletes have, unfortunately, bought into the false idea that to be great you have to cheat. However, a review of baseball history reveals the names of many great baseball players that didn't use performance enhancing drugs. For instance, Willie Stargell didn't use steroids but he was great. Willie Mays didn't. Babe Ruth didn't. Johnny Bench didn't. They were great baseball players. Or, maybe it's just the temptation is present today. All of us face temptation. And, there are more opportunities for temptation today than ever. The internet presents a venue for pornography that hasn't existed before. Credit card offers are sent to college students when 30 to 40 years ago that temptation didn't exist. The scriptures tell us that Jesus faced temptation at the outset of His ministry. At each temptation, Jesus responded with scripture. However, Christian, the apostle Paul has told us, "No temptation has overtaken but such as is common to man... and God is faithful who with the temptation will provide the means of escape also" (I Cor. 10:13). Temptation has been around since the garden of Eden. We just face it in different forms today. But God can help us deal with temptation. Whatever temptation you are facing today, God can help you deal with it.