Temptation

Dear Victorious,

I know the Bible says we should resist temptation, flee the devil and all that. But the fact is that I don't really understand temptation. How does it really work? How good do I have to be at recognizing and resisting it? What is the best way to go about resisting it?

Tempted

Dear Tempted,

Temptation is often thought to come from the devil, but I think we sometimes give the devil more credit than he probably deserves. Wrong desires and temptations happen to everyone. They are natural and more often than not arise from basic human instincts. Jesus said that no temptation has come upon us that someone else hasn't already been able to resist. So to be clear, there is a way to resist every single type of temptation we might encounter. It is a promise of God Himself!

The good Lord helps us resist temptations in several ways:

The Holy Spirit will give us discernment (i.e., alert us) to recognize those people and situations that give us trouble (are likely to lead to our sinning).

God will help us run from anything that is wrong. In other words, He will provide us with an alternative course of action that wouldn't lead us into sin. For example, if your friends are drinking and partying and offer you a ride home - God will have another way for you to get home.

The Christ who dwells within us is busy creating right desires within us. Simply put, we also, since becoming Christians, have a growing supernatural desire to do what is right. This is strong in the face of what is wrong.

We can also pray for God's help with specific situations. For example, if I am tempted with on-line images, I can pray and ask God to show me more ways to avoid those tempting images.

Finally, we can seek out Christian friends who will help hold us accountable and assist us in the fleeing of temptation. An example might be the guy who finds himself alone on Friday nights and drifting into sin. Perhaps overeating, drinking too much, watching things he shouldn't be watching or other forms of vice are what he struggles with on Friday nights. To be sure, God will be glad to help you find someone to do something more virtuous with. You just have to look for them (i.e., ask them).

We have to remember that Christ gave us victory over sin, including the temptation to sin. He didn't remove sin and He didn't remove the temptations to sin. But He gave us victory. Understanding when and how we're tempted and making intelligent choices to resist the temptation (or eliminate it altogether) are the first steps to claiming that victory. So it may help to look at temptation as an opportunity for victory - and then act accordingly.