Day 26 - Growing Through Temptation
Every temptation is an opportunity to do good.
On the path to spiritual maturity even temptation is a stepping stone instead of a stumbling block when you realize that it’s an opportunity to make a choice to do the right thing instead of the wrong thing.While temptation is Satan’s primary tool to defeat and destroy you, it’s God tool to develop and mature you. Every time you choose to do good instead of sin, you develop the character of Christ.In order to grow in character and be more Christlike, we have to understand and see the character qualities of Jesus.Here is one of the most detailed descriptions of the fruit of the Spirit. “When the Holy Spirit controls our lives he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” Galations 5:22-23
These nine qualities portray the character and nature of Jesus Christ himself and to have the “fruit of the Spirit” is to be like Christ himself.
How does this fruit become evident in our lives? Does it happen the minute we receive Christ as our Savior and wake up the next morning suddenly filled with all these characteristics? No…. it takes time for fruit to grow doesn’t it? There has to be a maturing process and temptation actually is a part of the process.
Character development always involves a choice.
It takes the unlovely people around us that teaches us how to love. It doesn’t take any character to love those that love us back. It takes a sorrowful and difficult experience to teach us joy in the middle of it. Our “happiness” is based upon what’s happening in our external circumstances, but joy comes in the middle of those circumstances.
Peace is not the absence of conflict. Anybody can be peaceful watching a sunset or having a quiet time walking in the woods. Peace is what we learn in the middle of the chaos and conflict. We get real peace when we decide to trust God when we are tempted to worry. Patience is learned when we are forced to wait and we are tempted to get angry.
God uses the opposite situation of each fruit to allow us a choice.
You can’t claim to be good if you have never been tempted to be bad, and you can’t claim to be faithful, if you have never been tempted to be unfaithful.
But here’s the GOOD NEWS!!
Every time you resist the temptation, you build character and integrity. Every time you reject the temptation to quit, you build up endurance. Every time you resist the temptation to be prideful, you develop humility. Every temptation you resist and choose the right thing, you become more like Jesus.
When you are fighting temptation and making wise choices, it is nice to know that the temptations are pretty predictable. It’s been the same temptations that Satan has used from the beginning. Every temptation begins with a four step process that can identified.
- Begins with a thought that hooks an internal desire whether a sinful one or a good desire.
- Causes you to doubt what God says about the desire.
- Doubt then opens the door to deception. Satan is the “father of lies” and half truths
- You act on it by being disobedient.
The area of temptation probably is one of the greatest deceptions that Satan has been able to dupe the Church with. Many Christians do not know that it’s not wrong to be tempted. They feel guilty for even being tempted, and this guilt alone is enough to disable and render useless many brothers and sisters. We need to have our eyes opened to how to overcome temptation, not shy away from it or be intimidated by it. In one sense you can actually consider temptation a compliment!
Many people, for instance, do not know the difference between physical attraction, sexual arousal and lust. They are not the same things. We are created sexual beings. Attraction and arousal are natural, spontaneous God-given responses to physical beauty, while lust is a deliberate act of the will. Lust is the choice to commit in your mind what you’d like to do with your body. You can be attracted or even aroused without choosing to sin by lusting.
Many people, especially brothers in Christ feel shame and condemnation for having active hormones! When they are naturally attracted to a beautiful woman, they assume it’s lust. May God deliver us from this area of confusion and may we be grateful for the bodies that God gave us!
It’s important to see the pattern of temptation in our lives and avoid them. “A wise man sees the temptation (sin) and hides himself, the simple (fools) go on and are punished.” Proverbs 22:3 Situations are always unique to our weaknesses and you need to identify them.
Ask yourself, “when am I most tempted, what time of day, am I bored or lonely, sad or angry?” “Where am I tempted, and who am I tempted with.” Co workers, crowds of strangers? At home, at work? A sports bar? Sitting in front of the computer?
One you identify the typical pattern do your best to avoid situations where your weaknesses are amplified by the temptation. We can’t completely avoid all temptation, but we can avoid being stupid..
Remember… God is building character in you as you learn to make good decisions, but you are not alone in this. These temptations are “common to man” and God has a plan of escape for you. Prayer is a 24 hr hot-line right into the throne room of God, who is waiting for you to (finally) cry out and ask for help.
Sometimes the temptation is so strong and the desire so intense, that we just don’t cry out, because we actually want to give in. At that moment we think we know what’s best for us instead of God! See the power of deception?
God tells us in Hebrews 4:16 (amplified) “Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].”
We ask him for help in the middle of it and cry out.. he will help us.
And.. lastly, when we fail, and we will…
Remember, God’s love is everlasting and it’s not fatal. Get back up, don’t give up, and look to Him. He will restore, rebuild and give you another opportunity to make a right choice so that you will be Christlike and a victorious one..