Most of us get sleepy when battling jet lag. Babies and toddlers, however, get peppier. And they use their pep for two purposes: to holler with gusto and outlast their parents.

Katy and Hans do valiantly. After a 20 hour day yesterday traveling from the UK to the US, they slept a bit but were up for the day at 2:30 am because of three jet-lagged babies whose bodies told them it was morning. Breakfast kicked off at 3:00 am, first baby naps at 5:00, and by 5:30 Katy and Hans were wondering, “Are we crazy to be here?”

Nate used to refer to babies as “little dictators.” But Katy and Hans have a plan to come out from under that dominance. After five days of grace, one for each time zone crossed, the little dictators will be crying it out on a schedule chosen by their parents.

Babies aren’t the only dictators in life. All of us have bouts with them, and I’ve battled one my entire life. It’s sugar. My mental dictator hollers orders daily in multiple ways. “That candy bar looks good. Eat it. It doesn’t matter that it’s breakfast time.” Or, “Everyone else is having another piece of cake. Go ahead.” Or, “You’ve been good all day. Reward yourself with a bagful of cookies.”

On and on the dictator orders. Sometimes I’ve succumbed to his ways. Other times I’ve resisted. Always I battle.

Other people listen to different dictators telling them what to do, what to think, where to go, what to say, how to act. Obeying a dictator is easy; it’s the aftermath that hurts. We struggle with guilt, sadness, disgust, anger at the dictator and disappointment with ourselves. But if we refuse to give in to the dictator’s demands, things usually turn out well.

Who is this dictator? His character is that of a lying tempter, and his name is Satan. All of these inner battles are fought on the landscape of right versus wrong, and when we obey the voice of the dictator, wrong wins.

Interestingly, Jesus wrestled against the dictator exactly as we do today. While he was a man on earth, Satan literally tormented him with temptations, desperate to take down the Son of God. On one occasion he taunted, scolded and attacked Jesus relentlessly for 40 days and nights straight. For Jesus it was every bit as difficult to win over temptation as it is for us today, yet he resisted 100%.

The good news is that when we turn away from the dictator repeatedly, he’ll eventually stop goading us, at least for a while. The bad news is Jesus was incessantly tempted while he was a man, which is why we know the same will be true for us. But there’s more good news. Jesus knows exactly how we feel, and being the success story he is, he can counsel us on how to be victorious against the dictator.

I wonder what his suggestions would be for getting three babies to sleep?

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Luke 4:1-2, Hebrews 2:18)