Sin/Temptation
Many times, we want our friends to agree with our thoughts, decisions, and conduct. Before, after or during our decisions, we seek the advice of one our friends for love, understanding, acceptance, or appreciation.
We have different friends for different situations. We have some friends that we only allow to help us with a specific situation or area. We have other friends we call to help us get through tough times or make difficult decisions. Of all the friends we can have, the most dangerous is the sin buddy.
A sin buddy is someone that will either agree with, encourage, or promote sinful conduct. The sin buddy can exist in any of our categories of friends, but usually they are in their own category.
For example, you have a friend that hates your spouse and have made it known. They have told you to leave them and find another spouse or to find someone ‘on the side’ to please you. Now, if you’re having marital problems and you’re trying to work through your problems, would you call this person? NO! You know their position and can guess what they will tell you. But if you didn’t want your marriage to work, they may be the first person you call…
It seems that no matter how much we do or not do, temptation is around every corner…and we sometimes give into it. Though many situations seem to be geared toward sin, it can become an opportunity for growth.
Sometimes a change of view or mental state can help us see the blessing in our trials, the comfort others need, and the lesson(s) God want us to learn. There are painful situations that may darken each of our doorsteps, but how we view and address our situations will determine how we will get through them.
By repeating painful situations and problems, they can become the match that lights our fuse of greater anger, frustration, sadness, despair, rage, etc. Like stacking bricks upon one another, you build a strong tower that seems impossible to destroy.
Have you ever had a beautiful day where the sun is shining; the birds are chirping; the trees are swaying; when…BAM, temptation comes out of nowhere?! Here you are trying to mind your own business, not bothering anyone, when temptation wants to pay you a visit.
A part of you is mad because once again, you have to deal with this again, but you know if you don’t deal with it quickly and properly, you may give into its call to sin.
2 Timothy 2:22 – Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
1 Corinthians 10:12 – Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Temptation and sin are nothing to play with and should be taken seriously!!!!
With the constant call of temptation around every corner, we can often feel helpless and a captive to its alluring call. Many times we want to get far away from temptation as possible, but then there are times when we don’t want to say ‘no.’ We make the choice to give into temptation and give birth to sin – repeating a constant cycle that wears us down, places us in harm’s way, and pulls us outside of God’s perfect will.
Just as we make the decision to give into sin, we can make the decision to say ‘no’ to sin. Please understand that there’s not enough strength in the world for you to say ‘no’ on your own, but through Christ, His grace and power will make up the difference in your weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)…but it all begins with a choice. We must want to change!
In dealing with physical illness, car problems, marital issues, etc., we are given signs or symptoms that tell us something is not working in the manner it was designed. We treat the headache, bad fuel mileage, and disagreements at home, but we don’t always research the root cause of that symptom. We focus on the symptom without considering the root problem that may be lurking in the shadows.
The symptoms are a way of telling us something is wrong, but there is often a deeper root issue. In dealing with sin, we often treat the symptoms by having accountability partners or pornography blockers on the computer (for example). Having accountability partners and pornography blockers are good, but if the desire to sin is not uprooted, you will find ways to sneak around your accountability partners or go to the Adult Bookstore rather than surf the web…with Satan and the flesh helping you along the way.
Symptoms must be properly addressed, but we cannot afford to stop there. The desire to sin must be removed. That may come through the fear of the Lord, hating what God hates, meditating on the Word of God, being pro-active, etc. – these are ways to help you deal with your willful desire to sin. Your situation may be different than someone else, but you can seek the Lord about your specific circumstances.
Please do not allow these roots to remain in your life. Find them and uproot them!
Photo courtesy of Stock.XCHNG.com/blueyes
As long as we are on this earth, there is one sure guarantee: you will experience temptation. (Being tempted does not mean you that sin; it is the acceptance of the temptation that gives birth to it.) Regardless of the area, issue, or subject, Satan and our flesh will proposition us with temptation.
We have been victims of temptation, but we don’t have to give in! Often when we are presented with temptation, we mull over the prospect of committing the act. Thinking about temptation and the ‘acts’ that ensue only gives the temptation more strength, leaving us feeling helpless to overcome. Rather than listening and thinking about temptation and sin, we can give tempting thoughts a proper response:
What’s in the closet of your life? Does stealing, lying, adultery, ungodly imaginations, and other types of sin that lurk within the darkness of your life?
You may want to clean up your life, but the evil deeds you commit keep you in the shadows of darkness. You may not want to open the closet door because you feel ashamed that you could allow those things to stay within your life for so long. You may know that your deeds are evil and enjoy what you do in the dark (well, at least the flesh), but you must come to the realization that your deeds of darkness can keep you from the life Jesus died to give you.
You do not have to keep your sinful acts in the darkness. Allow the Blood of Jesus to cleanse you of your sins and live in the truth (John 3:19-21).
God wants your ‘house’ to be clean. He loves you so much that He gave His only Son so that you may receive the forgiveness of sins and have eternal life (John 3:16-17; Ephesians 5:1-5).
Ask God to cleanse you from top to bottom, inside and out. OPEN THE CLOSET DOOR!
Photo courtesy of Stock.XCHNG.com/_lisandra
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