EVE
It was a wedding feast of my niece, after the lunch is over; the bride\’s father brought some chocolate ice cream and put it in front of me. My wife was sitting next to me; she looked at me and asked “What are you up to”? “Are you going to eat it”? Being a border line diabetic and on strict diet regime at home, I was tempted. I told her, “Darling you are wrong, I am trying not to eat it”! This illustrates the nature of temptation.
Seeing and Looking
Temptation always leads us into trouble. Even mighty King David of old testament was tempted, instead of being at battle, David was busy being a peeping Tom from his balcony. He saw Bathsheba, poor soldier Uriah\’s wife taking a bath, and then he looked at her with lust. Then he broke God’s law and committed adultery with her.
Temptation is like a small fire. But even the smallest fire left unchecked and not put out with water can turn into a blazing inferno that destroys everything in its path. Some of the biggest fires of all time all started from a tiny cigarette carelessly thrown out of a window while it was still lit. The only way to be safe is to not leave that fire burning!
And the only sure way for us to not give in to sin is for us to “put out” that temptation while it is but a mere thought.
An young man in the shopping mall see a very pretty girl in a short sexy fitting dress walking by, his eyes follows her. No harm in seeing her but looking at the “item”again and again, getting bad thoughts in to the mind is the beginning of temptation.
Sure, he will defend “The Devil made me do it!” It\’s a convenient defense. But there\’s one problem: the Devil can\’t make us do anything. He may be clever, but he\’s not all powerful. It may feel that way, however, when we\’re dangling on temptation\’s hook, because Satan has a tried-and-true strategy for luring us into his net.
First, he lays out the bait. Satan knows people like a skilled angler know fish. He notes our habits. He observes our hangouts. Then he prepares a tailor-made lure and drops it right in front of our noses.
Then comes the appeal. He can\’t make us bite, but he does know what happens inside us when we catch a glimpse of that tantalizing bait. Our fleshly nature draws us to it. We linger over it. We toy with it. We roll it over in our minds until it consumes our imagination.
Finally, the struggle begins. We know it\’s wrong to take a bite. But Satan\’s invitation looks so delicious. What do we do-the temptation ends with the response. Either we resist or yield; swim away or swallow it whole.
Have you ever given in to some temptation, and before you knew it you were committing one sin after the other? Then eventually that one thing led you so deep into trouble and so far away from God that you were asking yourself, “How did I get here”? It is important to overcome sin at the beginning. Temptation has a way of taking you deeper and deeper into sin and farther and farther away from God.
Broken marriages
How many marriages have been broken up because a spouse became too friendly with their co-worker? Maybe it starts with a look, then a compliment, then a shared lunch, and then eventually they are at some hotel committing adultery!
All sin starts somewhere. Sinful thoughts later become sinful actions. Again, that is why we must overcome temptation and lust before sin is conceived. We must not let the beginning of sin even take root in our hearts and minds
Remember, sometimes just one look is all it takes. So be cautious about where you set your eyes, and be on guard so that you can overcome temptation and lust.
Are you another King David?
And if you are in the middle of sin right now, do what King David finally did. Confess it to God and seek God’s forgiveness. Say a prayer to God like David did.
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.  Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge”.
