“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” (Gen. 3:6)
Temptation is certainly nothing new; and because Satan has been tempting man ever since the Garden of Eden, he has gotten really good at it! Temptation is something we ALL face, but there are some lies Satan tells us regarding temptation that we do not need to believe.
Yesterday we saw:
LIE #1—“I am being tempted because I did something wrong.”
LIE #2—“If I were more spiritual, I wouldn’t be tempted with this.”
Today, let’s look at the other two lies Satan tells us about temptation.
LIE #3—“I am powerless against temptation.”
Satan would have us believe we have no power to resist temptation when it comes our way. Oscar Wilde said, “I can resist everything but temptation.” That may have been true for Oscar, but that isn’t true for a child of God. Notice what Paul had to say about temptation.
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1Cor. 10:13)
Paul says we do have a choice when it comes to temptation. He said, “There hath no temptation taken you.” The word “taken” is referring to being overtaken by temptation. In other words, when temptation comes, it doesn’t have the power to overtake us unless we allow it to do so. Satan did not force Adam and Eve to disobey God and take the fruit He had forbidden them to eat. They made a choice, and we also have a choice in the matter.
LIE #4—“It won’t hurt to give in, just this once.”
Clearly this is a lie because look at how Adam and Eve’s ONE time of giving in to temptation affected all of mankind! This lie is so powerful because it says, “I can stop at any time.” It is like a chain smoker who says, “I can quit smoking whenever I want” but they never seem to be able to make that choice. Once you give in to temptation, it makes it that much harder to resist the next time.
Many people have become life-long drug addicts all because they decided to try drugs just “one” time. What they didn’t realize was that “one” time was all it would take. Many have died prematurely because they thought they could get behind the wheel of their car, after drinking, and make it home safely this “one” time.
Satan is a liar and has been from the beginning. Don’t believe his lies regarding temptation. Tomorrow, I will give you some ways to overcome temptation.