There’s a scene in The Natural that perfectly captures a lot of my philosophy on life. You see, I believe we are all blessed with certain natural talents and weaknesses. Blessed with weaknesses? Yes. Our weaknesses give us a chance to grow and overcome problems. If we didn’t have weaknesses, nothing would tempt us and no evil power in the world would be able to harm us. That would dramatically lessen our victory over them in the end.

Take Roy Hobbs, the hero of The Natural. He is blessed with a natural talent for baseball, though he has a nearly fatal flaw for women. He’s tempted by lusts of the flesh, which threatens to destroy his promising baseball career throughout the film. That’s his Achilles heel.

I know I talked about this topic a while back in “The Natural and Overcoming Addiction,” but I realized I had more to say on this topic. Because it’s not enough to fight addiction. We need to realize that the adversary we’re facing isn’t letting up once we win in one area. It’s a lifelong battle.

When Roy Meets the Judge

When Roy first meets the villainous Judge, who is hellbent on Roy’s team losing, it doesn’t go as well as the Judge would hope.

The Judge is surprised to hear that someone as talented as Roy isn’t “fascinated by the Almighty Dollar.” In other words, Roy isn’t tempted by money, and he throws that in the older man’s face. However, the Judge isn’t alone.

Searching for a Weakness to Exploit

After Roy leaves the Judge’s office, metaphorically shedding some light on his shadowy organization, Gus Sands steps in and restores the room to darkness. And he says something fascinating. The player Roy Hobbs replaced was named Bump Bailey. He was in the pocket of the Judge, having been bribed to underperform on the field. So Gus trusts that Roy can be had as well.

Gus says, “He’s not as greedy as Bump. He’ll be hard to work with, but we’ll get him.”

Isn’t that interesting? Gus is a heavy gambler who relies on creating a sure thing to win his bets. Roy proves to be a challenge because he’s so good that he makes it impossible to bet against his team without losing money.

It’s not long before Gus and the Judge realize that Roy’s weakness is mysterious women who are very beautiful. And they take advantage of that knowledge. Sexual immorality is almost as common as greed in their experience. That works for a time on Roy, showing that even great men can fall victim to the right kind of pressure.

I Had an Experience Like Roy’s

It seems to me that this world is set up to addict us all to something. Money is a big lever used against us. When I lost my job last May, I kid you not that I got an email shortly after saying that the best substitute for a steady income from a job is to get money from gambling. It actually said I could make many times more than a paycheck that way.

The funny thing is, that’s not technically wrong. I could do that. But what’s more likely is I would lose any money I had and wind up in a worse situation than if I did nothing at all. Thankfully, I ignored that email and all subsequent scams I came across. Like Roy, money isn’t my downfall.

However, just because I’m able to resist one temptation doesn’t mean that the world is done with me. No, those who are fascinated by the Almighty Dollar will chase me until they get it from me. So they try hooking me on alcohol, drugs, food, infidelity, pornography, smoking, and a hundred other addictive substances/behaviors. They won’t stop until they find something that works on me. An exploitable weakness. A profitable one.

Striving to Avoid Constantly Changing Temptations

When I turn away from such things and give them no heed it seems to drive the people behind them to try all the harder. The tactics change, but the goal remains the same.

I’m not saying I’m perfect. I’ve had moments of weakness where, like Roy Hobbs, I have fallen to my own personal temptations. But also like Roy, I have repented and striven to do better. I no longer feed a system that is designed to destroy me. As he said, “I play to win.” Winning to me means conquering myself and mastering my weaknesses until they become strengths.

It’s only natural to have personal flaws. But it’s a sign of divinity to fight and overcome them. We should be mindful of the real Judge we will all stand before one day. His dwelling-place won’t be full of shadows we can hide in. It will be full of light, exposing every wound we’ve fought hard either to cover up or to clean and heal. There’s Someone a lot more Almighty than the Dollar, and He’ll pay us back for all of our struggles one day. Hopefully we won’t sell ourselves cheap in the meantime.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

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