“Being Proved Genuine.”
Peter and his fellow disciples had promised to be faithful to death, and yet they went to sleep in the garden when asked to pray! They needed to pray for themselves, because danger was around the corner.
Matt 26:41 NIV
41 "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation . The spirit is willing, but the body is weak."
[That ye enter not into temptation] If ye cannot endure a little fatigue when there is no suffering, how will ye do when the temptation, the great trial of your fidelity and courage, cometh? Watch-that ye be not taken unawares; and pray-that when it comes ye may be enabled to bear it.
[The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak] Your inclinations are good-ye are truly sincere; but your good purposes will be overpowered by your timidity. Ye wish to continue steadfast in your adherence to your Master; but your fears will lead you to desert him,
Your understanding of temptation and how it works directly relates to your experiences with temptation. Even in its dictionary definition, it suggests a wide possibility of meaning.
tempt [from the Latin temptare, to touch, feel, attack, attempt, urge, excite, tempt] 1: to entice to do wrong by promise of pleasure or gain: allure into evil: SEDUCE 2: obs : to put to the test: make trial of : PROVE 3: to induce to do something: attract or allure to an act : INCITE, PERSUADE, PROMPT; 4: to venture on: to risk the dangers of(Merriam Webster's Dictionary)
Temptations are attractions that cause us to step off the path being traveled and pursue new attractions.
With enticing and usually unfulfilled promises, temptations sidetrack us from our main path or objective.
Temptations promise fun, excitement, and pleasure and generally center around what God provides for our benefit and enjoyment. When used as God originally planned, these experiences will benefit us—and others. The nature of temptation, however, suggests that we twist and distort God's gift for personal benefit and private pleasure—no matter the cost to others.
A surprising discovery is made, usually too late, that the more one attempts to satisfy the appetites of temptation, the more the appetites demand. They can never be filled. They reach out, consuming everything in their way. Eventually the embraced temptation, now become sin, consumes all of a person's focus, time, and energy.
P. T. Forsyth Wrote:
Unless there is within us that which is above us, we shall soon yield to that which is about us.
John Owen Wrote:
Temptations ... puts nothing into a man, but only draw out what was in him before.
Most persons believe properly that a temptation is always harmful. Some even believe that the temptation itself is sin. But there is more to temptation than first meets the eye.
When instructing Christians about the state of the world in which they live, and the attitude toward that world that Christians should have, James says,
My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing”(James 1:2–4 rsv; emphasis added)
Actually, temptation, as Peter tells us, may have a purpose.
“All kinds of trials … have come so that your faith … may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6–7).
The Greek word translated as trials (testing, temptation) originally had a positive meaning similar to what an athlete experiences when preparing for competition.
Testing is for the improvement and the perfecting of strength, stamina, speed, and skill. The more a muscle or skill is put to the test, the stronger and more defined it becomes. This same word is also used when referring to the refining or purifying of something of value. Gold is refined (tested) to remove the impurities and make it more valuable. This is the reason for the joy that both James and Peter describe.
Testing, of course, is never easy. It is seldom cause for immediate rejoicing. With testing may come pain and suffering. There are not too many healthy persons around who enjoy pain, yet athletes commonly say, “no pain: no gain.” The pain for gain comes in the stretching and strengthening of muscle and power. It better prepares the competitor for the competition.
God allows temptations so that Christians might, through the presence of the power promised by Jesus Christ, grow stronger and deeper in their faith in God's sovereignty and in their trust in God's wisdom.
You will be tempted because you are a human being.
You have the same human desires and human passions that all other human beings have. The greatest prophets, like the mighty Elijah, and even our Lord himself, were men of like passions as we are (and yet Elijah prayed and the earth gave no fruit for three years and six months). You will be tempted to evil just as Jesus was tempted to evil. You may, and probably will, be tempted to lie, to steal, to take advantage of some one in business matters, to swear, to be proud or act proudly, to yield to sensual solicitations, to strife and fighting, to angry words, and many such things.
You will be tempted because you still are free to make choices.
Your service to God is to be a free service, a voluntary service, given to him in preference to service to Satan.
It is this free service that makes your choice most pleasing to God and that makes your resistance to temptation partake of the nature of a divine operation; it makes you like God, for since he hates evil and you love him, so you resist evil out of love to God. This makes you all the more like God. If you were not tempted, you would never know whether you loved God better than sin or not.
You will be tempted because there is a devil, a malignant spirit abroad who seeks above all the destruction of good and of souls.
This evil spirit designs to overthrow you, to get you into trouble, but never to help you out; to get you into sin, and then laugh at you for getting in. He will make out that he is your friend and will approach you as if he were trying to confer a blessing on you: but he is, in truth, the greatest enemy man has and plots only your destruction. When he tempts, he does not sound a trumpet before him, saying, “Here I come, the Devil, to make you sin and fall.” No, he comes like a thief, like a deceiver, to tempt you little by little till you will yield some, and then the rest for him is easy.
Remember, dear young Christian, that there is a devil, a foe whom you must fight if you would win the crown of everlasting life. Be on your guard. Be watchful. Be careful. You can win, but only by fighting.
You will be tempted with the idea that you can not live the Christian life through to the end.
The enemy of your soul will try to discourage you by pointing out others who started and failed. You will be told by the evil one that you will likewise fail; that if they could not hold out, neither can you. But you know better than this. Because two automobiles started to town and both ran into the ditch is no sign that you can not run your car to town. That others failed in the Christian life only proves that they were not decided, and that is all. When Satan tempts this way, simply say to yourself and to God, I am a child of God; He will carry me through, I will trust Him only.
You will be tempted to trust in feelings instead of in Christ.
As long as one feels the glow of his new love he has no trouble in believing that he is saved, but when his feelings subside or go the other way and he feels bad, then he has trouble. In such temptations it is wise to consider wherein our part in salvation rests. If it rests in one’s feelings, then one would be saved according to his feelings; but if it rests in the will, then all one needs to do is to look to his decision. If you still give to God your life and desire to serve him, then pay no attention to your feelings, but believe firmly in Jesus as your Savior. Say to your soul, I am a child of God, because I repented and because I believed, and I still believe. God has promised to save you, so just let him attend to that part of it. You do the trusting, and God will do the keeping.
You will be tempted to hide your light under a bushel, or to keep your experience all to yourself.
There is a story of a young man who was converted and was going away to work in the lumber-camps. He was sent away with the exhortations of his brothers to be true and faithful to the Lord. He said he would. After a while he returned, and some one asked him how he got along with the wicked woodsmen. “All right,” he replied; “I never let them know anything about it.”
The very best way to start out for the Lord is to start out boldly, by letting everybody know, as opportunity affords, that you are a Christian. It is not necessary to go around telling all you meet of your change of life, but on every occasion when one must show his colors, be sure to show yours. Let it be known that you are a Christian and it will be a great protection and a help to you, as well as a blessing to others.
You will be tempted to the ordinary temptations to do wrong, as to lie, to steal, to swear, to cheat, to lust, to follow the world, to seek worldly amusement, etc
Every temptation must be met with an immediate and strong denial. It is no sin to be tempted, the sin is in the yielding. The battle will be fought in your mind first, and if there is consent in the mind or heart sin has been committed; but so long as the consent of the mind has not been given, no sin has been committed. Sometimes in strong temptations one feels as though he had sinned; but if consent has not been given, one should continue to resist, and if momentary consent is given the soul should rally to its faith in Jesus and compel another decision not to yield.
Temptations May be Avoided
A certain man one time wanted to hire a coachman. Three men applied for the situation. The man took the applicants down to a particularly bad and dangerous place in the road over which the coach would have to be drawn, a place where there was a steep precipice on one side of the road, and asked them, “How near this precipice can you drive this coach without going over?” One said he could drive as near as a foot to it without danger; another said he could do better than that, he could drive as near as six inches to the precipice without danger. The last man was asked what he could do. “Well, sir,” he said, “I will stay as far away from that precipice as I can get.” “You are the one I want for a coachman,” said the man.
As there is more or less danger in every temptation, it is a part of the young convert’s duty to avoid them as much as possible. There will be enough of unavoidable temptations to meet to test us without our inviting some extra ones to come our way. And the temptations that we can avoid and do not are peculiarly perilous to us; they have a power over us the others do not, and there is great danger of falling.
· Avoid temptation, as you would avoid a deadly serpent.
· Avoid associations that will lead you away from Christ.
· Avoid the frivolous, giddy company that seeks only a laugh and fun, for to mingle with such is a detriment to the soul.
· Avoid the worldly, irreligious person, whose whole attention is on the present evil world, who scoffs at religion and makes fun of Christians, or if not that bad, is living for himself and not for God.
· Avoid lovers of pleasures; for they will lead you into questionable amusements and doubtful associations.
· Avoid the wicked, sensual man or woman.
Consider the things that will help you gain your goal and the things that will hinder you.
Avoid those things that will make your success less probable. In the Christian life this means that you are to do all the things you know of that will make heaven the surer, and avoid all, those things that will make it less sure.
