Temptation

Have you ever been tempted?
Of course you have, we all have, there is nobody who has ever been alive on this earth who hasn't been tempted. The Bible even tells us that when Jesus was on the earth he experienced the same things as us and was tempted too.

The big question is have you ever given in to temptation?
Of course you have because we have all sinned, we have all done things wrong. Here the similarity between Jesus and us ends because the Bible tells us that when Jesus was on the earth he was tempted but he didn't do anything wrong, he never gave in to the temptations!

There is a big difference between being tempted and giving in to temptation. Being tempted is not wrong but giving in to temptation is wrong. Giving in does not require a physical act, it can simply be giving in in our minds, our thoughts! The first step in giving in to temptation is to give time to the temptation that enter our mind - we might start to say, "what would happen if I did that thing?" that is the beginning of giving in to temptation. Instead we should say in our mind, "no!" and purposely think of something else - force a different thought to take it's place in your mind.

What is it that causes us to give in to temptation?
The Bible says, "every man is tempted" and "he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed".
It is our weakness to say no! No to our own lusts and no to the enticement of others around us.

How do we help ourselves to say no to temptaations?
- We can all help ourselves by avoiding circumstances or people that we know will make it very likely that we will fail.
- We can pray and ask Jesus to help us when we know we have to be in a place or with people where we feel we are more likely to fail.
- We can work at improving our friendship with Jesus because the closer we are to him, the less we will want to displease him and make him sad.