Three Temptations--One Solution!

First of all, our desire to resist a temptation must be stronger than our desire to yield to the temptation. I often picture in my mind God’s sweet smile of approval when I turn my back on temptations and obey my heavenly Father. But, I can also imagine a leering grin on the face of the tempter when I have yielded to his enticements and disobeyed or displeased God. I don’t want to see a wicked smile on Satan’s face nor a sad look of disapproval on God’s face.

God has given us His promise that He will make a way of escape for us in every temptation. We need to take that way of escape at the earliest opportunity when we are tempted. The longer we dally, the stronger the temptation becomes. Remember how Joseph dealt with the temptations from Potiphar’s wife--he avoided her, and when he couldn’t avoid her, he fled.

Satan has three bullets in his gun--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The lust of the flesh--it feels good. A common saying in our society today is: “If it feels good, do it.” The lust of the eyes--it’s attractive, lovely to look at, beautiful. The pride of life--things that make us feel proud of ourselves, like power, wealth, fame. The devil has been using these same three categories of temptations throughout history, and they are still working.

Satan used these age old appeals when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus had been there for forty days without anything to eat. Imagine how hungry He must have been. Satan tempted Jesus to turn some stones into bread. This was a temptation to the lust of the flesh. But there were subtler temptations here, too. Many temptations have several aspects. Satan was tempting Jesus to have wrong priorities, to put physical needs ahead of spiritual needs. He was tempting Jesus to act independently from God’s plan. He appealed to Jesus’ pride as one with supernatural powers to use His powers selfishly and be flashy about it. The underlying temptation in all three cases involved the kind of Messiah Jesus would be. Would He focus on His own needs and use His divine powers selfishly? Or, would He be submissive and follow the plan laid out by His Father? What did Jesus do?

Jesus used the sword of the Spirit which is the World of God to defeat each temptation, saying, “It is written…, it is written…, it is written…” He had determined to obey God’s Word. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:11, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” To use God’s Word, we must know it. Our personal Bible is only as large as the parts we have read and understood. Only the words of God that we know will be useful for us in living the Christian life and overcoming temptations. How big is your Bible?

Father, may I constantly be building Your word into my mind, my heart, and my life and be determined to obey what I know so I can resist the temptations that come to me. Amen.