Temptation

When I was young, I had the habit of sucking on the two middle fingers of my left hand. I admit that it looked odd and very immature. I tried everything to get rid of this habit but continually failed. Then one day I received real motivation. My dad said that he would take me to doubleheader baseball games at the brand new Dodger Stadium. I wanted to go so bad that I didn’t need to use mind games or restraint to keep from sucking my fingers. It was a done deal and we went to the games.

Most of us have had bad habits that we have struggled to quit. We work on them through a series of successes and failures. It can be real difficult to give them up. Temptations provide additional struggles for us. We know that something is wrong but we give in and do it anyway.

But there is good news for us in our struggles against temptation. I John 5:4-5 says, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” Jesus overcame evil as He lived on earth, so that we can overcome temptation by faith in Him. When a person trusts in Jesus for salvation and redemption, the Holy Spirit comes to live within that person, giving them power to overcome temptation just as Jesus did. No act of the will or personal discipline can give us consistent victory over temptation. Only by trusting in God’s power working in us can we experience long-term victory.