Temptations Of Our Lives
Ξ August 29th, 2007 | → Comments Off | ∇ Christian Living, Growing In The Lord, New Christians |
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I have to tell you that I got sidetracked this morning prior to writing this out. That’s why it’s out later than I had intended. This particular post is to be on temptation and I fell into that trap even before I wrote this out, which I still haven’t done. Sigh. If you want to see what the temptation was, just click on the link on the word temptation. You’ll get there. But I did have fun with it. 
Now, in James, we learned about double-mindedness. That’s when you get pulled in a couple of directions. It distracts you from seeking the Lord and having the time to chat or pray with Him. We learned in Isaiah that God does care very much because He engraved us into His palms.
But what does temptation do exactly? For starters, it takes you away from focusing on God as your Father. You will not seek Him when you are being tempted if you choose to take the temptation. BUT, and this is a big one, you can be tempted but as long as you do not take the temptation, you have not sinned. Anyone and everyone gets tempted from time to time. But there was a time, way back when, when I believed that if I even listened to the temptation, I was a goner. Not so! How do I know that?
Okay, since you asked….After Jesus had been out in the wilderness for forty days, He was pretty hungry. The devil showed up and told Him to turn a rock into a McWhopper. Jesus did not bite on that temptation though He probably could have downed several. He told the devil that man can’t live on bread alone.
The devil wasn’t satisfied with that so he took Jesus to the mountain top. Showed Jesus the world, told Him that the devil would hand all his authority (which he got by tricking Adam into handing over the keys to the kingdom) over to Jesus if only He would renounce God. Jesus told him to get behind Him and worship the Lord God and Him only. Now the devil is smarting from the comebacks so he’s got one more temptation (and they really were temptations. Would you have to think about it a while if someone offered you the whole world and all the authority that went with it? Would you have to think about turning rocks into bread if you were starving like Jesus had to be after forty days? Uh huh. See?). Jesus gets taken to the pinacle of the temple. The devil tells Him to cast Himself down and prove Who He is since the angels would save Him from falling to His death. Jesus blasted Him with don’t tempt God. Now get out of here and the devil left.
So, Jesus was tempted but did not act on that temptation. Therein lies the victory for you. James tells us:
(Jas 1:12) Blessed is the man who endures temptation, because having been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
When you endure and not act on temptation, you are doing what God has asked of you. And the reward is the crown of life which the Lord promised. Oh, that sounds good but what I am looking forward to in heaven is seeing my Lord and Savior and being able to hug Him and ask Him silly questions like why on earth would you want to save a nasty sinner like me? But He did. What a wonderful Lord we serve.
When temptations stare you in the face, remember to seek God’s face and those temptations will not be important to you anymore. What a reward God gives for loving Him and doing as He asks!
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