Temptations Antidote!

The Reality!

Temptation is a reality of the Christian life and Paul was clear on this in Ephesians 6 when he warns of the fiery darts of the wicked. Sadly we succumb to the temptation far too often. Someone once said “lead me not into temptation, I can find it myself” how true that proves to be in all of our lives. So if temptation is a daily reality and God is our daily supply why do we fall prey to temptation day after day. Let me make clear that only a saved person wrestles spiritually with temptation. The unsaved person often revels in temptation.  If you love your sin and feel no need to flee from sin or have victory over the daily temptations you must be born again. Those who are in the family of God will face the correcting and sanctifying hand of a loving and chastening Father.  If you are a believer and you find yourself constantly grieved over the failures of yesterday and fearful of the failures yet to come, cheer up there is hope.

Who does the tempting?

Satan and his world system is the source of temptation. See at its roots temptation is a lie and Satan is the father of lies. God never has and never will tempt any one to sin. (James 1:13)

Why does temptation work?

Ultimately we give in to temptation because of our own lust. Lust is any desire that has not been submitted to Christ and his word.  James makes it clear that it is our lust that draws us away from the path that God has charted for us to take. God has given us trials that will increase our faith and produce the work of sanctification in our lives and yet we become impatient with what God is doing and try to find a quicker and easier path. Satan floats the idea that God is holding out on us and that we could do better on our own. He then draw us into a mental game of rationalizing away the clear teaching of scripture so that when we commit the sin we often truly believe we are doing good. Or at least we are not doing as bad as others. One author said that to rationalize is to “tell yourself Rational – Lies”. Yet at the core of all sin is irrationality. If God is all knowing and has our best at heart it would be insanity to disobey him in the slightest.

What is the antidote to temptation?

In all truth our venerability comes down to our view of God and our relationship with God.  Is God truly good? If he is not then he cannot be trusted! If he is then he must not be disobeyed! Often the trouble for many Christians is that they know little to nothing about the God they purportedly serve. The psalmist said “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.” We must know him and if we would know him we must know his word. We are defenseless against temptation if we are not dwelling on the scripture to know the character of God.  We all know someone well enough that if they were accused of a crime we would find it very hard to believe. We might say “That can’t be, I know he would not do that”. If we can be so convinced of the character and integrity of men then how is possible that Satan can impugn the character of God and we partly believe the accusation. The reason we believe the lies of Satan is because the only knowledge we have of God is second hand knowledge and we have never found out for ourselves that God is good. We have heard the preacher and we have read some books and we have listen to a few Sunday school lessons. We do not know the God of the Bible for our self and we don’t trust him. If we really believe God is all knowing and good God and that he made us for a purpose and that he has blessed with what we need to do his will, then we would be content. Content people are impervious to temptation.  Imagine with me for a minute that it is Thanksgiving Day five minutes after you have finished your meal. You have feasted on turkey, gravy, potatoes, vegetables, cranberry sauce, stuffing, dinner rolls, sweet tea, and large serving of your favorite desert. You now have relaxed into you couch for a movie or some football. What food could possibly be a temptation to you? Nothing can tempt you because you are content. If we in kind would fill our souls with the word of God we could live content and find ourselves impervious to temptation, because we know God and we are filled with God. Just as with food we must fill ourselves daily with the knowledge of God so that when Satan would impugn his character to us we would say with James, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

Knowledge of God and his Character is a lifelong pursuit not weekend road trip. We must be committed to the consistent study of His revelation of himself to us, the Bible. Just as temptation is a daily reality so too is the mercy of God a daily supply. Walk with him today!