How do I fight temptation?

How do I

fight temptation?

 Looking Deeper

 Looking Deeper How do I fight temptation?

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emptation is an awkward subject at best.

We don’t like talking about our weaknesses or the things we do in secret that we know we really shouldn’t.

It’s also a depressing topic for many of us—because it feels like things will never change. We’re told we have been transferred from death to life (Ephesians 2:1,5) and have been seated “in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (v.6). “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (v.10). But if we’re honest, life doesn’t really feel like this a lot of the time. We keep struggling with the same things, wondering if we’re making any progress in our walk with God at all, and failing to live up to the “good works” prepared for us.

There’s a lot we could say about temptation and how we can handle it. But this booklet isn’t really about squaring up to temptation ‘in the moment’ and hoping we make the right call. Because, often, if we’re leaving our battle with temptation until we’re actually being tempted, we will lose.

This booklet is about drawing closer to God every day in readiness for the temptations that will come.

The point is, whether we are close to God or far from Him, we will be tempted every day (every hour, maybe every minute) to act selfishly (sometimes without even realising it). We need to be joining with God as He works by His Spirit to transform our minds (Romans 12:2) so that we can avoid certain things and be more strengthened to say “No!” to the many other temptations that get in our faces.

We’re not going to be able to cover every single thing here, but we trust this will be a helpful introduction to dealing with temptation—and be a good reminder of the hope we have for all the times we totally mess things up. While the Bible has some stern warnings for us about giving into temptation, the purpose of those warnings is to send us running to our forgiving, loving God—our “hiding-place” who “[forgives] the guilt of [our] sin” (see Psalm 32:7). And that is the purpose of this booklet as well, to encourage you to draw closer to God, find your security in Him and be more equipped for the challenges that lie ahead.

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Temptation: a diagnosis

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o begin with, if we want to battle temptation effectively, we need to understand what it is.

James gives us a very helpful diagnosis of the real problem of temptation: When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. —James 1:13-15

I am the problem: When we give in to temptation or do something we know we shouldn’t, it can be natural to deflect the blame away from ourselves.

We might say things like, “I got angry and said those mean things to you because you weren’t listening!”, “I would never have gone there if so-and-so hadn’t invited me!” or “If God had answered my prayer quicker and given me what I needed, I wouldn’t have been tempted to take it for myself.”

James cuts through this kind of reasoning. We can’t say God is tempting us; we cannot blame Him, or anyone else for that matter, for the choices we make.

James highlights the real problem of temptation

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very clearly: “each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed” (v.14). In other words, I am the problem.

We are told elsewhere in the Bible, including James’ letter, that the devil and the world around us are looking for opportunities to trip us up (James 4:7; see also 1 Peter 5:8 and 1 John 2:15). Even so, no matter what our circumstances may be, when we give in to a temptation or do something that displeases God, the blame can only lie with us. We are the only ones who make our choices.

Evil desire: James describes the problem within us as “evil desire”. It’s easy to say that murderers, rapists and terrorists are driven by evil desire. But James wasn’t writing this letter to them—he wrote it to Christians in general (James 1:1). So this phrase also applies to everyday people like us who can probably say, “I’d never dream of doing anything like that!”

The word “evil” in the Bible simply means anything that doesn’t involve God. “Essentially, evil is a lack of goodness . . . God is love; the absence of love in a person is un-God-like and therefore evil.”1 If something isn’t for God all the time, then it’s not good and perfect—it’s evil. And this is the category we all fall into: “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10).

So where James writes “evil desire”, we might say “selfishness” or “self-centredness”. It’s our perspective, understanding, logic, problem solving, reasoning, needs and drive which is all about me and what makes sense to me. And it’s always bubbling under the surface, ready [4] HOW DO I FIGHT TEMPTATION?

to take any opportunity to lead us to selfishness. That’s what temptation is really—the opportunity to act or think or say stuff that makes sense to me and goes along with my priorities and my worldview.

Dragged away: We’re told our selfish instincts drag us away from God. It’s a bit like driving on the motorway, and realising an incident has happened on the other side of the barrier: there’s flashing lights, cars backing up and a sense of chaos. And suddenly you realise that’s what you’re looking at, not where you’re going.

This happens in our walk with God. We know we need to keep our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2) and His ways and commands, like we need to keep our eyes on the road ahead of us if we want to stay safe. But we just can’t help having our gaze drawn away from God on to other things that seem exciting or interesting or just a bit more fun than living for God. Enticed: The things that drag us away from God are things that appeal very much! They promise easy comfort or easy answers—even if they mostly fail to deliver.

Our selfishness is always whispering to us things like: “You’ll never pass that test if you don’t cheat”, “You’re not going to have true happiness if you stay faithful to that one person your whole life”, “You’ll lose your job if you speak up about the dishonesty in your workplace”, “Only weak people don’t look to get revenge”.

These things sound good, or at least appear to make sense, because me and my ways and my needs are their

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driving force. We need to realise that temptation is not necessarily an ‘event’ that happens here and there; and it’s not just about specific actions we take. Giving in to temptation is much more about our everyday attitudes.

Temptation is subtly chipping away at us all the time, so that often won’t even realise some of our thinking or routines have been dragged away from God. Think about that person at church who you try to avoid because they’re a bit weird. What’s motivating this attitude, the love of God, or your own comfort?

Yet stuff like this is so easy to view as not a big deal.

There are lots of people who can talk to that person at church; it’s fine. Yet, in reality, we have been dragged away from God without even realising it as we listen to our comfort ahead of what He says.

Death: The conclusion to James’ diagnosis sounds very severe. “After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death” (v.15). James gives us a road which starts at our selfishness and leads to death. But what exactly does that mean? James probably doesn’t just mean that giving into temptation means we’ll die physically.

We’re all struggling with various temptations and weakness, yet remain living.

Verse 15 is the second of two roads James shows us we can go down. He firstly urges us to walk along the road of perseverance, which leads to completeness (1:2-4). James wants us to stick close to Jesus, relying on Him so that we can live in the complete peace and assurance that God gives. However, if we’re not [6] HOW DO I FIGHT TEMPTATION?

actively walking that road in our lives, James warns that we could take the alternative route of selfishness leading to growing sin and death (v.15).

Ephesians 2:1 describes us as dead before we trusted Jesus. James tells us that, even as Christians, we can experience that deadness again if we continually allow distance to come between us and God. If there are areas of our lives where we’re living by our own reasoning, rather than by what God says, we introduce distance in our relationship. Perhaps to the extent that others might look at our lives and not see what difference God really makes.

Think about being in trouble with someone, for example. We could admit the wrong and trust the situation and relationship to God. While this is hard, it is a step along the road of depending on Jesus and growing in the maturity of a deepening relationship with Him. Or we could lie and get ourselves out of trouble. But that leads to more lies to more people as we cover our tracks—and soon we are deep in our own deception, far away from the honesty and transparency that God asks of us. We’re denying ourselves the opportunity to know the fullness of life Jesus gives (John 10:10), and instead we’re walking in the dead ways we’ve been saved from.

James’ diagnosis is very severe and sobering. But that is not all there is to say about temptation. In understanding the root of the problem, we can now look to how we move forward in our battle.

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What is the definition of evil?, gotquestions.org/definition-of-evil.html

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What do we do about it?

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f we are the problem, then we have to look outside of ourselves for the answer to temptation.

No matter how deep I dig into my resources, my strength and my ability, I will always come up short . . . because I am the problem, through and through.

So our solution, really, is less of me; more of Him. Many books have been written on the subject of putting God first in our lives. But for now, here are just a few key things to help us battle temptation and live by God’s ways, rather than our own.

Live by the words of God: It’s important to remember that while He was on earth, Jesus was also tempted, “yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15). And we see God’s Word was central to His strategy to combat temptation. In Matthew 4 (even though Jesus had just had a brilliant encounter with His Father in 3:13-17), the devil tempted Jesus three times. Jesus’ focus on His relationship with His Father was clear as He replied to each temptation: “It is written . . .” (vv.4,7,10).

The words of God were His weapon and His guide for what was right or wrong, God-centred or selfish. He said: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (v.4). Our first need is to hear what God says, regardless of what other things demand our attention.

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Author and pastor John Piper explains: “What is our only hope? Our only hope is that there is something sharp enough and powerful enough to penetrate through all the deception and shed light on my thoughts and intentions. And that’s what our text is about in Hebrews 4:12. The Word of God is our only hope.”2 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. —Hebrews 4:12 The Bible is alive and active and sharp! It’s not just a dusty old book with difficult morals, long words and outdated teaching. Through its stories, teaching, prayers, songs and characters we find out about who God is. We see pictures of His love and faithfulness.

And we find guidance for what His ways and priorities are, so that we can live by them and not just by what makes sense to me and my misguided instincts (2 Timothy 3:16).

Reading the Bible is not just about setting aside five minutes a day to read the next bit and tick it off our to-do list. It’s about stepping back from everything, turning off our phones and settling down to read without distraction. It’s about reflecting on what it says, asking questions of the passages and talking to God about what we read. And He promises, through His Spirit, to transform our minds and priorities to be in line with His ways (for more

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on this, check out How do I read the Bible? online at ourdailybread.org/lookingdeeper).

Being close to God is like being close to anyone: we need to invest time in Him. We’d even become distant from the person we’re closest to if we stopped seeing them. They’d feature less and less in our thoughts and decision making, until we’d barely even think about them at all. It’s the same in our relationship with God. We need to let ourselves be filled with Him, through His Word, if we want to stay close to Him and live by His ways (Colossians 3:16).

Find our identity in Jesus: We want to live lives that please God. But it can be very easy to define our worth in how well we do this. Valuing ourselves based on our performance leads us to think things like, Surely I’ve dragged too far from God this time. He could never love me now. He must have closed the door on me.

This is why we need God’s Word to cut through our misguided instincts to reveal the truth that Jesus, and He alone, defines who we truly are.

“To those who believed in [Jesus], he gave the right to be children of God” (John 1:12). That’s who we are: God’s children. It is not a position we earn, but a gift. When He died on the cross, Jesus paid for all sin (Hebrews 9:26), including our deepest darkest secrets and our nagging guilt. Our account was emptied onto His shoulders. That’s why He cried out, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). There is nothing else that we can add to our salvation or our identity in Jesus—He has completed the work. When He walked [10] HOW DO I FIGHT TEMPTATION?

out of the grave, He promised Mary in the garden: “I am ascending to my Father and your Father” (20:17 emphasis added).

Most parents would agree that children don’t have to earn their parents’ love or their right to be their child. It’s the same with us and God. He doesn’t love us more on the days we’ve read all of Leviticus before breakfast, managed to resist all our temptations and got in three hours of prayer before bed. Neither does He love us any less on the days when everything is going wrong and we’re making the worst decisions.

As His children we have His love in full measure all the time, no matter how our battle with temptation is going. Jesus alone defines us.

As His children we can come to God and talk honestly about our struggles and wrongs. He wants us to come close to Him, not for a telling off, but so we can experience again the security only He offers. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). And as a good Father, God disciplines and corrects us (Hebrews 12:5-11). This again is not to make us feel bad, but for “our own good” (v.10) so that we can learn, in God’s strength, to say no to temptation and live instead in “peace” (v.11).

Battling temptation is not about digging deeper or working harder—it’s about coming closer to Jesus.

It’s about starting and ending each day looking at the cross where we see how far God was willing to go to make us our own. The cross shows us that we have

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total forgiveness. And the cross makes us thankful people who want to live for God, not out of duty but because there is nowhere else we’d rather go!

Temptation has least pull on us when we have the satisfaction and peace that comes only from Jesus.

Nothing compares to Him. He alone strengthens our resolve to live for God and to make our lives all about Him. Look to serve: If we can trust our heavenly Father to meet our needs and provide for us, then we don’t need to be so focused on ourselves (where the problem lies). Instead, we can be freed up to direct our concern outwards to the others in our churches and communities.

Serving is a great way to lift our thoughts off ourselves. And as temptation is something all Christians struggle with, we’re going to need each other’s help and encouragement.

Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. —Hebrews 10:24-25 Bible study groups and prayer groups are great places to share our needs and to explore any ways we can help support others. And as we share what God is doing in each of our lives, we can be reminded again and again of His goodness and love, directing our thoughts back to Him. [12] HOW DO I FIGHT TEMPTATION?

Part of our focus on Jesus means focusing on His people and looking to encourage and care for others, rather than just being preoccupied with my needs and priorities.

Take sin seriously: The Bible takes a hard line on sin and giving into temptation. And some of the verses about fighting it sound really extreme, like Hebrews 12:4: “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

And Jesus Himself says, “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away” (Matthew 5:29).

Jesus isn’t actually demanding that we cut body parts off to stop ourselves giving into temptation.

But He is telling us to take our battle with it very, very seriously. After all, it doesn’t take long before sin can take over and lead us into a life of death, as James warned. So, taking sin seriously may well mean cutting things out of our lives. If the online world is causing distraction or taking over, it might be that we have to limit our phone access or download an app to make our online activity viewable to someone else who will hold us to account.

If we know alcohol is a weakness, it may be that we avoid going to pubs. If gambling is a problem, we may need to block our online access to those sites. If certain people make us act in ways we regret, it may be we have to ask other friends to keep an eye on us.

And so, there are certain physical barriers which can help in our struggles.

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If we’re taking our fight against temptation seriously, then we will also be bringing it to God every day in prayer. It is His Spirit in us who can bring real change to the ways we think and to the types of things we want out of life (Galatians 5:16). It is our relationship with God that makes the difference. But we need to be active participants in it. No relationships just happen—they need time and investment to grow. The Holy Spirit in us means we have 24/7 access to our all-powerful, heavenly Father. We never have to face our weaknesses alone! A life of constant conversation with God is available to us (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) so that we can always call out to Him when we feel weak, finding His strength in every situation.

If we stay close to Him—being guided by His Word, finding our identity in Jesus and looking to stand with His people—we can change. His “fruit” (His ways) of “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (vv.22-23) can become our ways. Our minds can be Our minds can be transformed and our selfish transformed and instincts refined to follow priorities. But we our selfish instincts God’s need to be drawing close to refined to follow Him, asking Him to work God’s priorities. in us and not resisting the changes He makes.

The Word of God: Living, Active, Sharp, John Piper, desiringgod.org/messages/the-word-of-god-living-active-sharp

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How would you describe your relationship with God?

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ould you say your life is marked by the first path James writes about in his letter— of growing in the maturity of trusting Jesus, experiencing the completeness of knowing His peace and security (James 1:2-4)? Or are you following the other path right now? Do you feel dragged away from God and like there is distance and disintegration in your relationship?

Even if we feel far from God, He is ready to welcome Even if we feel us back—whether for the far from God, hundredth time or one thousandth or more. It is He is ready to His delight to call us His welcome us children and to guide us.

We have this promise back—whether in the Bible, that Jesus for the hundredth will present us “holy in time or one his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” thousandth (Colossians 1:22) when we are or more. welcomed into His home after we die. No matter

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how close we are to God, ultimately temptation will always be tempting. We will always struggle against our selfishness—and we will always find ourselves getting it wrong in some way. This does not mean that we are failing; but that we need Jesus and His promises every day—and to come close to Him as He keeps changing us and reminding us that in Him we are forgiven people.

If you are struggling with certain temptations, it’s important to tell a Christian friend or church member.

No matter what we struggle with, our church families are there to help. Maybe you could agree to meet up with someone or with a group in order to share your battles, pray together, encourage one another and keep each other accountable. We were not designed to live the Christian life, or fight its battles, alone—but with God’s family (Galatians 6:2). Who can you ask to help you fight your temptations?

If you want to think more about the protection that God gives us in our battle, why not read What is the armour of God? We also have I’m a new Christian: Why is it so hard? Both these booklets are available to read and order online at ourdailybread.org/lookingdeeper

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 Looking Deeper The Looking Deeper series offers great Bible teaching for Christians. Whether you are a new Christian or a mature believer, we have a range of short Bible studies on many crucial topics and questions.

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