All about Temptation

Memory Verse:

“God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10: 13 [NKJV]

If you’re alive and human you have temptations everyday. Some of us handle temptation better than others. To yield to sinful temptation is wrong but there are things we say we are tempted to do that are not wrong.

If you are tempted to run for two miles when you’re tired after running one, and you yield, it’s just an unhealthy choice. But if you are tempted to do something that you know is against God’s Word or will and you actually do it, then that action becomes a sin.

Just being tempted is not a sin. Yielding to temptation is sin. God can give us special help to walk away from temptation. In fact, He can put Satan on the run. The Bible says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” [James 4:7 The Living Bible]

Do you know that even Jesus was tempted to sin when He was on earth? He did, but He never ever yielded. He is the only person that never sinned.

After He was baptized, Jesus spent 40 days alone in the wilderness getting close to God, His Father. The Bible says He fasted the whole time. I believe He spent time praying and listening to His Father.

Then Satan came to Jesus and tempted Him. If someone hadn’t eaten for 40 days and 40 nights and you wanted to make him do something he didn’t want to, what would you tempt him with: eating, of course? Satan is pretty smart, but in a sly sort of way. He uses all of his knowledge and slyness to get us into trouble.

So Satan came to tempt Jesus with food. I suppose he remembered how he had tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden with food. Maybe he thought; it worked that time and it will work again.

Satan told Jesus that if He really was God’s Son He should turn some stones into loaves of bread to prove it. But Jesus was strong and replied using Scripture. He said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” There was nothing wrong in turning stones into bread but that was not the Father’s will for Him at the time.

Satan tried again. He took Jesus up into Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple. Then he said, “If you are the Son of God throw yourself down because it is written that God will send His angels to bear you up so you won’t hurt your foot on a stone.” But Jesus only replied, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”

Satan didn’t give up easily. He tried one more time. This time he took Jesus up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world. Then Satan said, “I will give you all of these if you will fall down and worship me.”

Jesus replied, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.” Finally Satan left Him.

But this wasn’t the last time Satan tempted Jesus to sin. Satan tempted Jesus to sin many times just like he does us. Yet Jesus never gave in; He never sinned.

Jesus was faithful to God so He sent Him a very special blessing. God sent His angels to meet Jesus’ needs; to minister to Him.

As you read this devotion, did you discover how Jesus can help you not to give in to temptation?

Because Jesus was tempted, He knows how we feel when Satan whispers to our heart and tells us to sin. Jesus understands how to help us and if we ask Him, He will.

God is good to us. He won’t let His children go through something for which He has not prepared us for. He will give us grace and power to endure the temptation and say ‘no’. The secret is to ask Him to help us and to stay close to Him.

And God has done more. Even if we fail and yield to temptation and end up sinning, if we ask Him, He forgives. Wow! What a great God we have. We can’t lose.

Going Deeper for Parents:

Jesus had just had a great spiritual experience. It is said that spiritual victories are sometimes followed by testing. So it was for Jesus. After His baptism, when the Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove signifying that He was the Messiah, and the Father spoke, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”, Jesus was tempted.

In this experience Jesus taught us how to handle temptation victoriously; each time He quoted Scripture, proving that God’s Word is truly the Sword of the Spirit.

God blessed Jesus for being obedient after He was tempted, in sending His angels to minister to Him. God rewards us also. The Bible says, “And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.” [1 Corinthians 9:25, NKJV]. In heaven, at the end of our race, we too will receive a crown or prize for endurance and suffering for the cause of Christ.

 

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