With The Thrill Of Temptation Comes The Agony Of Sin

My Utmost For His Highest

 

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man… —1 Corinthians 10:13

 

“The word temptation has come to mean something bad to us today, but we tend to use the word in the wrong way. Temptation itself is not sin; it is something we are bound to face simply by virtue of being human. […] Yet many of us suffer from temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.[…] …  temptation fits the true nature of the person being tempted and reveals the possibilities of his nature. Every person actually determines or sets the level of his own temptation, because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature. […] Temptation is something that confuses me for a while, and I don’t know whether something is right or wrong. When I yield to it, I have made lust a god, and the temptation itself becomes the proof that it was only my own fear that prevented me from falling into the sin earlier.”  CHAMBERS

 

Temptation is something that I really don’t want to think about, but something that I deal with every day.  It is like a seed that is planted.  If I choose to water it, to cultivate it, to let it become the focus of my attention, then it will bear fruit which is sin. Temptation is the opportunity to choose a way other than the way the God has provided.  There is a thrill that comes with it.  That thrill is a stirring of our flesh that delights in disobedience.  Yielding to temptation brings a momentary inner relief from the battle.  You give in to what you know is wrong because you don’t have the spiritual strength to do what you know is right.  God provided a way to escape temptation, if you choose to take it.  All too often what people want is a promise they won’t go to hell, not a provision to live a new life in victory over temptation and sin.  Do you say I have tried but I can’t?  That is the problem.  You don’t have the natural ability to prevail against a supernatural struggle.  But you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. (Philippians 4:13)  ELGIN