Temptation - What Are You Giving Into?

What are you tempted with right now? Food, lust, a person, wealth, your body and appearance, a relationship, acceptance, approval, anger, unforgiveness — the list could go on, right?

So stop for a moment and answer the question if you would: What — are — you — tempted — with?

We sometimes talk about temptation as though it just suddenly “shows up.” And sure, sometimes it does. Something unexpected gets put right in front of us. But most of the time, temptation connects with something already inside us — something we desire. Something we want, crave, enjoy, resent, fantasize about, or simply don’t want to give up.

The Apostle James once said: “A person is tempted when he is drawn away and trapped by his own evil desire.” — James 1:14 NCV.

The real question isn’t only, “What is tempting me?” The deeper question is, “What’s in me that wants it?”

These thoughts go through my head every time I read this verse: “But I made an agreement with my eyes not to look with desire at a girl.” — Job 31:1 NCV.

There are a couple of ways to read the Bible. You can just read it and move on. Or you can read it, pause, ponder it, pray about it, journal about it, study it, and ask, “Why did he say that? What’s the backstory here?”

Because Job talking about looking at a woman with desire almost seems strange in the middle of everything happening to him. But when you understand Job 31, it makes perfect sense.

Job’s friends had spent much of the book arguing that his terrible suffering had to be evidence of some terrible hidden sin. Job knew that wasn’t true.

So chapter 31 becomes something like his closing defense of his life. He starts opening the private rooms and saying, in effect, Look here too. He talks about honesty, money, how he treated people, greed, idolatry, injustice, and secret sin. And one of the first places he goes is his sexual life.

The Hebrew behind Job’s statement is even stronger than our English translation. He essentially says, “I made a covenant with my eyes.” He had already established a boundary concerning what he would allow himself to look at with desire.

He wasn’t waiting until he was staring at a woman and then deciding whether he should keep looking. He had already made that decision.

And maybe that’s the real lesson here.

Temptation becomes especially dangerous when we wait until we’re in the middle of desire to decide what we’re going to do about it. By then we’re negotiating with ourselves, and most of us are pretty good lawyers when we’re trying to justify something we want. Job had settled the question beforehand.

The same principle works throughout life. Just promise yourself, your spouse, and to God: “I won’t entertain sexual images or secret conversations that dishonor my marriage. I won’t keep looking when I know why I’m looking. I won’t knowingly keep eating or drinking in a way that is controlling or destroying me. I won’t let anger and unforgiveness live in me simply because part of me enjoys holding onto the offense. I won’t allow money, appearance, another person, or the approval of people to become more important than God.

And I won’t become so consumed with what I want that I neglect God, my spouse, my children, or the people He has put in my life who need me.

What have you made a covenant with yourself and God about? Wait - have you really made a covenant with yourself and God? This is base. It’s critical.

Maybe one reason we struggle so much with temptation is that we leave ourselves an escape clause. We say we want to stop, but deep down we still want the thing.

We want God, but we want bad stuff too. That’s not a covenant. That’s negotiating with options.

We want freedom, but we aren’t completely ready to surrender what enslaves us. That’s why merely saying, “I’m going to try harder next time,” usually isn’t enough. There are some things we need to settle before the next time ever comes.

If you are sold out to love your spouse, you won’t look, flirt, send texts, and dance on the line. If you are sold out to God, you won’t play with the opposite sex, or buy the food, or the booze, or constantly seek approval.

The real issue is there is no covenant, we aren’t all chips in. Doesn’t that disturbed you bit? Or a lot?

So maybe today the question isn’t simply, “How can I resist temptation?” Maybe it’s, “What desire do I need to stop feeding, and what decision do I need to make before that desire gets another opportunity?”

What boundary needs to become non-negotiable? What door needs to be closed - locked - and throw away the key? What do you already know God is telling you to stop, start, change, confess, or walk away from? What will you do with that?

So what Job’s point could be, said in a different way, is:

“What decisions should I make today so I don’t have to make them when temptation or that desire comes tomorrow?”

That’s a good question for all of us.

What are you tempted with — what is it in you that wants it — and what are you going to do about it today?

GOD, our hearts, man, they want the bad stuff. Please change our desires. IJNIP amen ♥️

(Utah - on an Airstream trip)