It’s not
You, it’s me…
“All of you must keep awake and watch and pray, that you may
not come into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
- Mathew26: 41
Temptation
surrounds us all. It is very similar to God’s presence, always here. Teens today are tempted more than ever thanks to the
internet. The availability of the internet has allowed Satan to work even
faster than ever. Pornography is one of
the biggest struggles in a teen’s life. Say you login into Facebook and
you’re checking your news feed. You look at your notifications and you have a
friend request. As anyone would, you check the request. The picture is of a
practically naked woman posing for the camera. You click on the page out of
curiosity. In the information box there are links to websites and you click to
see what they’re about. Instantly you are on a porn site. The process repeats
itself even if you only look once, you
will be tempted to look again. It never goes away. This struggle is not only one of our teenage years. This happens in our adult years as well...
When tempted
our first thought is, “why is God tempting me?” God does not tempt. In fact, God
is completely apart from sin. God
cannot be tempted nor does he tempt. When
we are tempted, under no circumstances, should we ever blame God. God has
nothing to do with evil. EVER. End of story. Satan is the one to blame.
"And
remember, when someone wants to do wrong it is never God who is tempting him,
for God never wants to do wrong and never tempts anyone else to do it.
Temptation is the pull of man's own evil thoughts and wishes." – James 1:13-14
Temptation comes from within. Temptation is our longings or
desired pleasures. Satan knows of these things and puts them right in front of
our faces. It is like he walks beside us all day dangling it in our face.
Sometimes we can overcome the temptation. So Satan gives up right? Not at all.
This motivates Satan. This makes him try even harder to draw us in. Now he
stands in front of us rather than beside. He becomes more persistent until we
give in.
"Happy is the man who doesn't
give in and do wrong when he is tempted, for afterwards he will get as his
reward the crown of life that God has promised those who love him." –James
1:12
Drawing away from temptation is
not easy. Satan is persistent and he always will be. Next time you’re
tempted pray for guidance. God will lead you out of darkness for he is the
light. James 1:12 puts it best, when you overcome temptation you are
rewarded. God will keep you safe, he is our protector.
Temptation is very difficult to overcome. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t do it…
1 comments:
Difficult subject handled very well - great job again!
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