Friday, June 13, 2014

Posted by Niki |
Verse 14: “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.”

Our temptation comes from the sin nature that is present in our hearts. When we are tempted, we are drawn away of our own (lust) desires. What is a desire? Definition: a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen. Lust in the Bible is defined as the strong desire in our hearts to evil. Lust is never mentioned as being something good. We never lust to do good. Lust is the complete defining of selfishness. Lust tells us that we should get our personal desires no matter what. It is about satisfying our flesh no matter what. It is an enticement to sin.

The enticement to sin is not from God; it is from within our own hearts. This is one of the hardest things about being a Christian. We never completely lose our sin nature that we were born with. Paul talks about the struggles of this several times. He talks about wrestling with the flesh, dying daily, and putting away the old man.

As individuals, we are responsible for sin. There was a Jewish belief that all people have two yetzers or impulses. One to do good and one to do evil. We see this animated in many shows today. This is your angel and your devil. Any normal desire can be turned into a temptation. Eating is an easy example. We get cravings for food, indulge, and then become gluttonous. This is a sin that is easily committed by starting with a desire or craving. Desires can either be fed or starved. That choice is up to us. If we encourage our desires, they’ll soon require actions. Desires in this sense are selfish and seductive.

Our giving in to sin begins with an evil thought and becomes sin when we dwell on that thought, then act on it. The best time to stop a temptation is before it gets too overwhelming or out of control. The devil makes it easy to give in to temptations. He offers suggestions from our environments, false advertisements, and fear. He uses all of these tools to lead us astray. We must always remember that sin is for a season and no satisfaction is to be gained from sin. On the other side, God gives us ways of escaping temptations. They are mentioned in Matthew 4:1-11, I Corinthians 10:13, and 2 Timothy 2:22.

How do we stand against the temptations that we know are coming?
  • We must continually be under God’s protection.
  • We must reject the enticement, or temptation by recognizing it as a false promise.
  • We must fill our lives with activities for our benefit – fellowship, good music, positive influences, studying, and learning the scriptures.
  • Doing all of these things will expand the awareness of Christ in our lives and we will be less likely to give in to our fleshly desires.

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