Keeping from Temptation

Temptation…we know what it is.

Or do we? How do we know when we are being tempted? We’ve been given an unseen but real element of personality. We call it conscience. Think of conscience as the voice of good inside the human mind. Human conscience withers from lack of use. Temptation brings guilt to our conscience which in turn causes us to feel guilt. We feel guilt when tempted. We feel greater guilt, remorse even sorrow if we yield to temptation.

Now the short version of temptation: what we feel when something seems wrong. Things in life seem wrong if they lead us to break God’s moral law. Human conscience prompts everyone who will “listen.” A healthy conscience leads to a life with far fewer disappointments and heartache.

Judas was tempted. He allowed his temptation to lead him to betray Jesus to death on the cross. Then overwhelmed with guilt, Judas killed himself. Peter was tempted. He denied Jesus three times in the courtyard…before the rooster crowed. Overwhelmed with grief, Peter ran away and wept.  You and I are tempted. New temptations come every waking minute. The temptation to eat a second cookie will not destroy our soul. Temptation to deny Jesus will. Denial of Jesus is a temptation we should strenuously avoid.

Here is the problem…it’s real. We are sinful, yielding to temptation is a sinners default setting. Honest…we must face the truth. We will be tempted. We will fail. How then do we overcome the guarantee that will give in to temptation?

Look at Jesus. Jesus lived on earth and He was tempted, just as we are. Listen to Jesus in these verses:

“Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives. There he told them, “Pray that you will not give in to temptation.” He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed,  “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”  Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood. At last, he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.” Luke 22:39-46

How are we to avoid the daily temptation to do the wrong thing…to oppose God’s best plan for our lives by giving into sinful wants and desires? This is a serious problem. If you’ve read this far-it’s even more serious than we realize. We have a real, more powerful-than-we-are-enemy: Satan.

The Bible tells us he prowls around like a “roaring lion seeking who he may devour.” Does this image shout danger?

Once more…look at Jesus. When He was faced with death on the cross, He went to pray! While at the Mount of Olives to pray, He knew the temptations every disciple would face. He had already told Peter that he would deny Him three times. What Jesus told His disciples is for us. He said it twice, the second way requires us to move:

“Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.”

Let me say this in complete sincerity: To avoid temptation… “get up and pray.”  Once more: “get up and pray.” 

We think…it’s so simple…can it work?

Jesus prayed.