Before you read any further, the following video will give you a gist about what will be covered in this article: Click Here.
Now as funny as that video might have appeared to some of us, it is showing us something that is a reality in each of our lives and that is temptation.
That is what I am briefly going to be sharing about in this article and my purpose is not to single anyone out or any specific thing that we can be tempted to do. Rather, this message is meant to give general insight on the subject, and it applies to everyone regardless of who they are and what they are most often tempted to do.
What is temptation?
- A temptation is an act that looks appealing to an individual. - Wikipedia
- The wish to do or have something that you know you should not do or have - Cambridge Dictionary
- The desire to do or have something that you know is bad or wrong - Oxford Learner’s Dictionary
- To sum it up, if you feel you want to do something or have something, even though you know you really should avoid it, you can refer to this feeling as temptation. - The Collins Dictionary. As was clearly demonstrated by our video.
Now these definitions are not totally true, because the problem with them you see, is that they leave God out of the picture and they make it primarily about us.
A biblical definition of temptation refers to the enticement, desire or invitation to sin or to act in disobedience to God’s will. This is the view that this message will be based on.
You see temptation to sin has been universal throughout human history ever since the garden of Eden, and no one has ever been free from it, that is why this message is named: “The Struggle is Real!”, because it is!
So this teaching is not only for you but for me as well.
What it is not
We’ve seen what it is, let us look at what it is not.
1. It is not sin
You see a common lie that many Christians might still believe today is that when you become a believer, you also become immune to temptation, and if you are still being tempted then you are not a real Christian.
But nowhere in the Bible does it say that we will not be tempted to sin, if we belong to Jesus. In fact, we may even face stronger temptations why? Because the devil will do everything in his power to draw us away from God.
Even Jesus was tempted - no one ever faced stronger temptation than Him as seen in Matthew 4 and Luke 4. But the difference between Him and us in the face of temptation is that He never sinned.
This is made clear in Hebrews 4:15 as it says: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”.
Now if Jesus Himself was tempted, best believe that you too as his follower will be tempted also.
You see temptation itself is not sin, sin happens when we give in to it (Will be discussed later).
2. It is not unique to an individual
Maybe it’s only me, but sometimes when I am tempted, I tend to think that my circumstances are unique or that no one else around me or in history understands that struggle. This is what the enemy wants for us - he wants us to think that everyone else has it all figured out except us, so that we isolate ourselves.
But the Bible tells us in the first part of 1 Corinthians 10:13 that: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind…”.
You are not alone, your desire to sin - no matter how strong it is - is common and ordinary.
But be careful, just because it happens to everyone does not mean that you should relax and take this lightly - rather it should raise an awareness of just how real this problem is.
Where does it come from?
This section will focus on its sources and how they tempt us.
You see if you are at war as we are spiritually, one of the keys to secure victory, is to know your enemy and how he operates.
In the case of temptation, we have 3 major sources or enemies:
1. The devil
Another name that is used for the devil in the Bible is “the tempter”. He is the very source of all temptation and will do everything in his power to lead us away from God.
I don’t know what you get tempted with the most, but the devil has a similar strategy with each temptation, and we see this in many places in the Bible. Two of them being:
Making us doubt God
Because the devil knows that he cannot force us to sin, he will sow seeds of doubt in our minds concerning God’s word so that we distrust God and end up disobeying Him as he did to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3.
“Did God really say that you should not do that thing?”, “Does He really love you if He is keeping you from doing something you want to do?” and so on.
Satan will misuse the Bible to confuse you
When satan was tempting Jesus in Matthew 4, he quoted Scripture, but for his own selfish reasons.
You see he knows the Bible, and will twist it however he wants in order to deceive us if we are not firmly rooted in Scripture.
In our case he will say things like: “Just do it, God loves you doesn’t He? He will forgive you” etc and in doing so he deceives us and leads us into sin.
The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8 that: “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
2. The world
When we talk about the “world” in Christianity, it is not about the beautiful world the Lord has created. We mean the culture in which we live.
When you look at our culture, you can quickly see that it is designed to draw people away from God and His truth with its endless distractions: wealth, fame, the entertainment & music industry, social media, the ads we see daily, the ideas that it pushes, the pleasures and the luxuries that it promises us etc.
As Christians, we have to strive daily against the ideas and norms of this world which welcomes sin and denies God.
The Bible tells us in 1 John 2:15 that “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.” .
3. Our flesh
Now you see the devil and the world are the enemies that outside of us, but we also have an enemy within.
This is our flesh which the Bible defines to be our sinful nature.
Even as believers who have been redeemed in Christ and have received the new nature (the Spirit), this old software (talking as an IT guy) still remains along with its evil desires.
“but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.” - James 1:14.
In our sinful nature, we desire things that are contrary to God’s will. As Christians, a part of us wants to sin so bad, but the other wants to obey God. And these opposite desires dwell within us at the same time and are in constant conflict with one another - a very challenging and unique experience of believers.
The Apostle Paul himself understood this conflict when he said: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” - Romans 7:15.
However, regardless of all these things that have been mentioned, we have no excuse. We can blame many external factors for our temptation and falling into sin (like the kids’ context in the video). They can blame the fact that they were locked in a room with the marshmallow, or the fact that they were hungry… And don’t get me wrong, these things did indeed strengthen their desire to disobey. However, the final decision was theirs to make and the same is true for us.
What are the possible outcomes of temptation?
In the face of temptation, we always have two choices: to sin or to resist it.
1). Giving into sin
When we choose to sin, we might find some satisfaction for a moment, but this is quickly followed by guilt, shame, bitterness, regret…which are very powerful weapons of the enemy to make you forget about God’s love for you, what Jesus did for you on the cross and your identity in Him.
You see the devil will draw you to sin by saying that “God will forgive you after you do it because He loves you”, but when you do sin, he starts condemning you saying things like: “God does not love you, you are not saved, if you really loved God you would not have done that, it is over for you”… (you can name the rest).
But God does not condemn us, for He says in His Word that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” - Romans 8:1. Why? Because Jesus Christ died for all of our sins past, present and future and He also bore the weight of all of our guilt and shame, nailed them to the cross so that we don’t have to carry them around anymore.
You see sin does not love you, Jesus does - no matter the sins that you have committed, or you are still struggling with.
I heard from Teenstreet this year that sin doesn’t make God love us less, but it makes us love Him less.
But what He (God - the Holy Spirit) does is that He convicts us of our sin in order to lead us back to Himself, if we acknowledge and repent of our sins (see 1 John 1:9).
God certainly will forgive our sins and cleanse us from our guilt and shame. However, this does not give us a licence to sin. Yes, Jesus has dealt with the eternal consequences of our sins, but the early consequences remain. For example: if I steal, God will certainly forgive me, but I might still have to go to jail for that.
So if you do fall into sin, repent and ask God for forgiveness as quickly as you can and you can be assured that He will forgive you.
2). Resisting temptation
You see unlike those who don’t have Christ, we always have the choice to not sin, no matter how strong the temptation might present itself to be. But how do we do so?
Some practical steps:
The best way to fight temptation is actually to NOT to fight it. The Bible encourages us in many places to flee from it (see 1 Corinthians 6:18 & 2 Timothy 2:22). You see we are not strong enough to fight off these urges on our own strength and the more we stand and try to negotiate with it, the stronger it will become.
The best example of this for us in the Bible is shown in Genesis 39 when Joseph fled from Potiphar’s wife who was tempting him, and we should do same in the midst of tempting situations.
When you flee, run to Jesus
He is the only one who ever lived a sinless life as we already read from Hebrews 4:15.
“Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” - Hebrews 2:18
Only Jesus fully understands the intensity of temptation without sinning, only He knows what it takes to resist it. Because of this we can run to Him whenever we are tempted, and He will help us out.
By using the Word of God
When the devil comes knocking on your door with his lies, use the truth of God’s word to send him packing as Jesus did in Matthew 4 when He was being tempted.
You see the word of God is described in Ephesians 6 as the Sword of the Spirit, the only offensive piece of the armor of God.
Back in the day warriors had to keep their swords sharp at all times because they could be attacked at anytime. In the same way, if we don’t keep our sword sharp by reading, memorizing and allowing our mind to be renewed by Scripture, how do we expect to fight off the enemy when he attacks us?
The psalmist says in Psalm 119:9-11 that “How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to your word…I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. “
Prayer
“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. ” - Matthew 26:41.
Pray, ask God to give you a strong desire for Him - stronger than the desire that you have to sin and He will do it and even though you will not become sinless, you will sin less.
And when you are in the face of temptation, ask God for His help to pull you through.
Also ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in God’s will, because God will never lead you into sinning.
Guarding our hearts
Because we live in a world hostile to God, the Bible says in Proverbs 4:23 that “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
How do you guard your heart? By guarding the doorways to your heart which are:
- Your eyes: the things that you watch
- Your ears: the music that you listen to
- Your mind: what you read and the thoughts that you entertain
These things might lead you into temptation.
By trusting in God
Lastly, trusting God’s way is always better and that He will always provide for us a way out of our situations no matter how impossible they may feel.
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. - 1 Corinthians 10:13
In conclusion
You see behind every sin is a lie and no matter what sin promises to offer, God offers better, why? Because God has offered us His Son! The very best that He could offer and nothing else compares to this great gift. Dear reader, Is He not more than enough?
Sin promises but cannot deliver. True satisfaction is found in God alone. You see as long as we are in this body, we will be tempted - but what does this tell us? It tells us that temptation is temporary because when Jesus comes back, He will give us new bodies - bodies that are no longer tainted by sin nor the desire to do so and we will be able to live in perfect freedom as God intended - freedom from sin and freedom to serve God with all our hearts (see also 1 Corinthians 15).
“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” - James 1:12