Well, since I'm living in a place filled with as much filth as there is
going on every day around me I have a lot of opportunity to deal with
temptation. I decided to look up the major verses on dealing with
temptation in the Bible, and share my thoughts on dealing with
temptation.
Matthew 25:41
Watch and pray, that ye not enter into temptation: the spirit indeed
is willing but the flesh is weak.
1 Corinthians 10:13
There hath no temptation taken thee but such as man can bear. But God
is faithful, who will not suffer ye to be tempted beyond that ye are
able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that
you may be able to endure it.
James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he
hath been approved, he shall recieve the crown of life, which the Lord
promised to them that love Him.
Based on these verses, I think of three ways to deal with teptation.
Only one will pan out in the long run though. First, there are those
who put themselves in dangerous situations intentionally to 'harden'
themselves to temptation. Sorry, but looking at dirty magazines to
strengthen yourself is just lying to yourself and you're giving into
your selfish desires. Second, there are those who try to blanket off
any opportunity of temptation. The problem with this is, eventually
you will be tempted, but you won't know how to resist temptation. God
can use temptation as a way to "test us by fire" so to speak. Then
thirdly, the best way to deal with temptation. Look at temptation as a
necessary evil, one that can't always be avoided, but not something we
should be looking for. Look at yourself and question- am I really
strong enough to be in this situation without giving in to the fleshly
desire to sin? If yes, proceed with caution and don't give in, because
that is not the most effective resistance training. If no, you need to
do some prayer and work on standing up to the little temptations
without giving in. There are many times whee a perfectly fine thing to
be doing can evolve into a mirey pit of sin if you can't resist the
temptation to begin with. All to many times I've found myself in the
first group and ended up further away from a true faith-based ability
to defeat sin than people from the second group.(no, I've never looked
at dirty magazines, I'm just using that as an example) The key is
listening to the Holy Spirit through your concience and knowing when
you're in too deep and back out of a situation that you may fail in.
Basically, defeating the flesh does not mean fleeing temptation, it
means fleeing from sin. Be bold and courageous when facing temptation,
and remember that if you keep your eyes on God, He won't let you fall
into sin. However, we have the choice to ignore God's escape path and
plunge ourselves in too deep and end up sinning. Hope that makes
sense! Please keep me in your prayers as every day I'm met with the
opportunity to fight, or to flee, and pray I'll have wisdom to know
which to do in those situations.
God bless!
Your friend, matthew.
