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| Section: Basic Christian Living:
courses for new Christians |
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Growing in God |
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8. Staying Victorious: |
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Overcoming Temptation |
James
1:13-14
'When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me."
For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged
away and enticed.'
In the battle
zone
God and his people have an
enemy: Satan, or the devil. Satan is real. He is a spiritual
being who has a host of demonic servants working for him. Their
aim is to draw people away from God and get them to serve Satan
instead.
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Before you became a Christian you were under
his power. But now that you've moved over to God's side you've become a
threat to him—and he doesn't like it! So to you he has now become 'the
tempter' (Matthew 4:3), trying to lure you away from the Lord. He may tempt
you to do what you know is wrong, or to fail to do what you know is right
(James 4:17).
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His temptations come in a variety of
forms, including:
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direct appeal to your natural appetites—what James
calls your 'own evil desire' in the verse quoted above.
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| Suggestions by
another person. Joseph, for instance, received sexual
advances from his master's wife (Genesis 39:6-7), and Peter tried
to steer Jesus away from the cross (Matthew 16:21-23).
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| Success. If it's you who are successful, Satan
may tempt you to become proud. If it's someone else, he may tempt
you to become jealous.
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| Difficulties. Failure, sickness, personal tragedy,
opposition or disappointment—all these can tempt you to
accuse God of letting you down and jettison your Christian faith.
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| Fear of the consequences of following Jesus—mockery,
discrimination or other persecution—can tempt you to forsake
your loyalty to him. |
Jesus shows
the way
Jesus, as a
man, suffered temptation just like you. He was 'tempted in every
way, just as we are—yet was without sin' (Hebrews 4:15).
This tells us:
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1. It isn't
a sin to be tempted
Temptation itself can make
you feel dirty. But you must resist this idea. It isn't temptation
itself, but yielding to temptation, that is sin (note
Martin Luther's perceptive comment on the right). Jesus was tempted
but remained 'without sin'.
2. Victory
is possible You'll never
reach a place this side of Christ's return where you cease to
be tempted, but you really can be victorious over temptation
when it comes, as Jesus was.
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Preventive
measures against temptation
There are certain steps you
can, and should, take to avoid temptation in the first place:
1.
Stay on the alert
Matthew
26:41
'Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.'
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While you shouldn't go around
cringing lest temptation should strike, don't go to the opposite
extreme by becoming cocky and over-confident in yourself. The
devil is a great deceiver, with lots of experience. 'If you think
you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!' (1 Corinthians
10:12).
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Keep away from the occult
Keep right away from anything
occult, including horoscopes, fortune-tellers, ouija boards,
séances, witchcraft and spiritism. This is Satan's territory,
where he rules supreme. To step over the line is to court disaster.
3. Take
sensible steps to avoid problems
If you're having sexual temptations,
for example, be practical about avoiding sexy videos or explicit
magazines. Watch what daily newspapers you read. If you've had
homosexual problems, choose to stay away from the places where
practising homosexuals hang around. If alcohol is a problem,
keep away from pubs and bars.
'Do not think about how to
gratify the desires of the sinful nature', says Paul (Romans
13:14). On the contrary, think practically about how you can
deny those desires. One man's route to work took him past a stall
that displayed pornographic magazines prominently. He had poor
eyesight, so he would deliberately remove his glasses while he
walked past the bookstall. That's good Christian common sense!
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And
when temptation comes…
1. Stand
firm and fight
James
4:7-8
'Submit yourselves…to God. Resist the devil, and
he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near
to you.'
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| The devil is used to people
running away. But in most temptations you must stand up to him
undaunted, then he's the one who'll do the running.
But this isn't
something you do in your own strength. Notice how, in this verse,
both before and after the command to resist the devil, there's
a command to 'submit' yourself to God and 'come near' to him.
Call on him to help you, telling him that you are his and intend
to do his will. That way, God himself fights for you and the
devil's defeat is assured.
2. Lean
on the truth of Scripture
You can read in Matthew 4:1-11
how Jesus once faced a period of heavy temptation. Notice how
he quoted Scripture each time, reminding both himself and the
devil of God's truth. You can do the same.
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Run for your life
Some temptations call for you
to remove yourself rapidly from the situation. When Potiphar's
wife tried to seduce Joseph and made a grab at him, he ran from
the scene of temptation, leaving her holding his coat (Genesis
39:11-12). To have stayed and discussed the situation would have
been fatal.
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| If you're offered drugs in
a night club, get out. And ask yourself why on earth you were
in such a place to begin with. Such escapes are
not a sign of weakness but of strength. They show your utter determination
to stay right away from anything that may cause you to stumble in your walk
with the Lord.
4. Milk
the temptation of its potential blessing
Romans
8:28
'We know that in all things God works for the good of those who
love him, who have been called according to his purpose.'
You can actually benefit from
temptation if you tackle it in the right way. Though it comes
from Satan, God can turn it to your good. How?
First, it prompts you to lean
more heavily on the Lord rather than trusting your own strength.
And, second, when the victory is won you will have gained in
spiritual experience and be better equipped to deal with Satan
next time.
Every temptation you face,
in fact, is permitted by the Lord as an opportunity for you to
triumph. You can never say, 'I was tempted too strongly', because
he has explicitly said that this isn't so:
1 Corinthians
10:13
'No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. 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 stand up under it.'
Take hold of this wonderful
promise and use it as a weapon to defeat Satan.
What to do
if you fall
In spite of all your efforts
to overcome temptation, you may slip up from time to time. You
don't want to sin but you end up disappointed with yourself
and defeated. What should you do? John gave the answer to some
Christian friends he was writing to:
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John 1:9-10
'If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive
us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim
we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word
has no place in our lives.'
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