Today we continue in our discussion
taken from my book, Victory
Over Backsliding. One of the greatest problems we will deal
with as humans is temptation. Before we
are saved, we think nothing about it. But after we are delivered from a life of sin,
when temptation comes knocking on our door, beware that it is a great enemy hoping
to corrupt our new life in Christ. It
will try and destroy us quicker than a paper lit fire in a desert on a hot and
windy day.
Temptations
Temptation
is that sometimes overpowering, overwhelming sensation to do something contrary
to our Christian convictions. It catches
us off guard if we’re not careful, especially if we are in a state of weakness
and stress. We try to fight it back, but
the more we resist, the more tempted we are until finally we give in. But once we give in, for the next several
years we may be tormented with the sting of its bite. It may be true for a young teenage girl who
finds herself pregnant and unable to keep the baby and now lives with the
regret of aborting it or giving it up for adoption. It may be someone who innocently took a drink
and is now an alcoholic, or caused a fatal vehicle accident. It may be someone who had an extra-marital
affair and now lives with the guilt of that misdemeanour. It could be someone who once won the lottery
or on the slot machines and is now bankrupt due to uncontrollable
gambling. It may even be a weight
problem. For all of us, no matter what
the temptation, we know we are trapped in this recurring sin and no amount of
good works can remove the sin. Such are
the sins of the flesh, easy to succumb to, almost impossible to relinquish.
The problem with habitual sin is that it if
we let it, it will overcome us and we will be so pre-occupied with the habit
that we give little thought to anything else. The pre-occupation starts out as a battle of
the will, "Should I or shouldn't I?"
Once we give in and continue in that sin one day we realize that we are
bound in it and our thoughts are filled with guilt, remorse and despair because
we are trapped and cannot get out of it on our own. The first step in understanding temptation is
to know that it does not come from God.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted
of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But
every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is
finished, bringeth forth death. James 1:13-15
The next step is to take personal responsibility for
it. Let's not make the same mistake that
Adam and Eve made when God confronted them in passing it off to someone
else. To be tempted is not a sin, but to
give in to it is. We have a choice – we give in to the flesh or we give it over to
God. If we give it over to God, He
promises us a way of escape.
There hath no temptation taken but such as is
common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above
that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that
ye may be able to bear it. I Cor. 10:13
We need
never feel overwhelmed by temptation; there is always a way out. Neither should we feel ashamed to be tempted.
Even Jesus was tempted so He understands what it feels like and He is perfectly
aware of all of our weaknesses. When we
choose to turn away from it, He will strengthen us and defend us, always
willing to help if we only ask.
Less
Obvious Temptations
We may read this and think,
“This doesn't apply to me” because we don’t have
a problem with drinking, gambling or other outward sins of the flesh. But, there are scores of other temptations
that are not as obvious as the outward ones.
We already mentioned unforgiveness.
Others might include envy instead of contentment, jealousy instead of
loving others, anger and hostility over peacemaking, murmuring instead of
praising, gossiping instead of praying for someone. All of these have to do with pride – the
flesh attempting to be its own god, to be a judge and jury, to exalt
itself.
Idolatry
may seem like a problem only the Israelites had [discussed in a previous
chapter], but it may be closer to home than we think. Anything that we put before God is an
idol. It may be our job or career, a
success-oriented goal to become wealthy, or even a relationship that we spend
so much time pursuing and maintaining that it takes top priority in our
life. Even our spouse or children can
become an idol if they come before God.
Whatever takes priority must be submitted to God, for He has said he
will not share His glory with another.[1] No matter what it costs us, we must get our
priorities straight and put God first.
How
to Handle Temptations
What are we to do when we are tempted to sin? The psalmist David wrote:
Thy word have I hid in my
heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Psalm 119:11
The more spiritually minded
we are the less carnally minded we will be.[2] We will make a
habit of seeking the Lord's way before we succumb to giving in to our own
lustful desires. Another crucial thing
is that when we are faced with temptation to immediately give it over to the
Lord and ask for His grace and help. The
worst thing to do is to try on our own strength by sheer willpower to overcome
a powerful temptation. We have this
wonderful benefit of belonging to the Lord.
He has overcome the power of sin in us through His death on the cross (see
Romans 8:2-4). In Him we are completely
victorious and every battle against the flesh is already won because of
this. All we have to do is draw from His
strength and rest in His finished work of the cross.
Taken from Victory
Over Backsliding,
by Linda McBurney-Gunhouse, Creative Focus Publishing, p. 69-71, 2007.
The
next blog, Part 7, is a very short blog, but it is packed with relevance and meaning. It has to do with the many trials we face
throughout our lifetime.
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