The Power of Temptation
Like
the pull Of gravity or the force of
magnetism, there is an invisible power working on your
mind. It pulls and tugs, trying to bend your will toward its source. If
you allow it to draw you, its pull intensifies, and soon its power
seems overwhelming. Finally, you give up all resistance and yield.
You have just succumbed to the power of temptation.
Temptation is a real force, and it is dangerous! Every person who has lived, including Jesus Christ, has felt its power.
As
a Christian, you need to know how
temptation works and how to
resist its subtle influences, which lead to sin.
Where docs temptation come from' What is the best way to avoid or resist it? Is temptation sin?
An admonition from Jesus
During
Jesus Christ's final night with His disciples, before His
crucifixion. He gave them a warning: "Watch and pray,
lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the
flesh is weak" (Matthew 26.-41)
Jesus well understood the
subtleties and powers of temptation and the
weakness of human beings. That's why He gave
this admonition.
Temptation is not sin. but it is the forerunner
of sin Temptation is an appeal to the carnal, human mind and flesh to
think or do something contrary to God's law of love. It's a force of
attraction in the wrong direction.
Have you ever experimented
with a magnet? If you place a small piece of iron not far away from a
magnet, invisible lines of force will reach out from the magnet to
attract the iron. If you place the iron piece just a little closer, the
attraction will intensify. Nudge the iron Still closer and it will be
drawn all the way to the magnet.
Temptation works much the same
way. For some people the object of wrong attraction might be money, for
others drugs. Some are allured to overindulge in food and drink. For a
great many the enticement comes from power and Sex.
The
original, classic case of temptation
is found in the first
book of the Bible. Eve, the first woman, was approached by a subtle
serpent Satan the devil who
aroused Eve's interests and desires by
offering her a false image.
In her deception Eve "bought"
it (Genesis 3:1-6). Satan .succeeded in
enticing her and stirring up a wrong desire within her.
Through Eve Satan tempted Adam, the first man, to sin, and the
result is the world in which you live.
What Satan
did to Eve, he is doing to
the whole world. The Bible calls
him the "god of this world" (II
Corinthians 4:4. Authorized
Version) He is the father of
lies (John 8:44), and we may also appropriately call him the father of
temptations, he has created an atmosphere of lust, envy, jealousy and
competition that has led billions of mankind into sin and resultant
death. Satan, the "prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2.2). has
been responsible for the wrong enticements, pulls and attractions that
influence us in this world.
But as flesh-and-blood humans, we carry a burden of responsibility, too, for many of the temptations that draw us.
Flesh and blood — a root of temptation
Speaking
through the apostle James, God said: "Each one is tempted when he is
drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has
conceived, it gives birth to sin: and sin, when it is full-grown,
brings forth death" (James 1:14-15).
The apostle Paul frankly
discussed his own battle with temptation: "For I know that in me (that
is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me.
but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will
to do. I do not
do, but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.
Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin
that dwells in me" (Romans 7:18-20).
As Jesus said, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
The
bible tells of many individuals and even whole nations that have
succumbed to temptation. In the book of Judges, for instance, is
the story of how Samson was unsuccessful in resisting Delilah's
temptation (Judges 16:4-21). Samson, therefore, endangered his
own life and the security of his people. II Samuel 11 shows
how David became so obsessed with his desire for Bathsheba that
he perpetrated both adultery and murder.
Joseph, on the
other hand, was able to resist temptation in the case of Potiphar's
wife (Genesis 39:1-12) Joseph exercised a restraint and control that
kept him from yielding to a persistent temptress that kept him from
sinning against God. How did he do it? Why was he able to resist when
others could not?
Joseph was just as human as any of us. He wasn't perfect He sinned in his life. The bible says "There is none righteous, no, not
one
. . . for all have
Sinned and Fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:11).
23) Yet, in this and other sit nations Joseph was able to
master temptation and keep himself from
winning. How?
Lets remember Jesus' admonition- "Watch and pray,
lest you enter into temptation." While David and Samson had temporarily
forgotten this principle, Joseph apparently had not. He remembered he
was human and vulnerable to temptation, and so stayed close to God in
prayer, watchful of circumstances around him.
Forgetting how
human we are is a serious mistake. It will lead us to lower our
spiritual defenses and allow ourselves to draw near situations we ought
not. Human nature or, more accurately, carnal mindedness is tuned in to
temptations. It desires to go the wrong way. It is naturally
attracted to Satan's lures. Unless we catch ourselves and resist soon
enough, we will be caught off guard and pulled into sin Let's turn our
attention now to the example of Jesus Christ. In the book of Hebrews we
find this statement: "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot
sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we
are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).
For 331/2 years, Jesus
Christ successfully withstood all the pulls, tugs and enticements of
Satan, this world and His flesh, and did not sin, Jesus followed His
own advice. He knew His own human qualities and Strengths were no match
for the spiritual warfare He had to wage He plainly slated, "I can of
Myself do nothing'' (John 5:30)
No human being has the strength
to fight this spiritual warfare alone But though we can do nothing of
and by ourselves, Jesus also tells us, "With God all things are
possible" (Matthew 19:26) When a person is spiritually close to God and
relies on God's power, seemingly impossible tasks become possible.
Resisting temptation
Speaking
to those who had received God's Holy Spirit, Paul said. "For God has
not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound
mind'' (II Timothy 1:7).
This is the way Jesus Christ
fought all His battles and won, He had a full measure of God's Spirit.
He had the very mind of God He was able to overcome every wrong
temptation.
The greatest time of temptation in Jesus'
life, the Confrontation between Himself and Satan, serves as the
example of our learning. You can read about this titanic spiritual
battle In Matthew 4:1-11. Satan three times tried to tempt Jesus into
sinning against God and thus disqualifying Himself as Savior of the
world. But Jesus rejected Satan's lures and thus qualified to replace
Satan as ruler of the world at Jesus' Second Coming.
The
confrontation between Jesus and Satan was a total success for Jesus. He
had fasted and prayed and was filled with the knowledge of the
Scriptures, and was well armed for the enticements and attractions that
were put before Him. Jesus knew the enemy was not just Satan, but the
fleshly pulls of His own body.
In Paul's second epistle to
the Corinthians, God inspired these words: "For though we walk in the
flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against
the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the
obedience of Christ" (II Corinthians 10:3-5).
Just as Jesus
Christ needed the spiritual presence Of His Father to
assist Him with His struggles, so we need Jesus Christ's intervention
and assistance in our struggles. He can help us literally capture every
wrong thought before it leads us into sin. He can and will help us to
overcome the temptation to sin, if we stay close to God spiritually.
Let's take seriously Jesus' helpful admonition to watch and pray!
By Al Kersha Good News Magazine August 1984
