How can we avoid temptation?
Here, we voice our need for providential protection from those things that so easily beguile us in this broken world. And Jesus teaches us to pray: “Lead us not into temptation.”
“The realism, self-distrust, and humble dependence on God that breathes through this petition is something we all need to learn.”
J. I. Packer, Praying the Lord’s Prayer
In Matthew 26:41 Jesus taught us to: “Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation, for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” The best guardrails are in the first part of what Jesus said: watching and praying.
“He that would be little in temptation, let him be much in prayer.”
John Owen
“Temptation will come. But left to yourself, you are like a tumbleweed in a tornado, a handkerchief in a hurricane. The lion will roar, the viper will strike, the flaming arrows of temptation will fly, and you will fall—apart from grace. That is why you need God. Beware of self-confidence.”
Brian G. Hedges, Watchfulness
The traditional list of seven deadly sins includes: pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth. Have you noticed how we don’t talk about these things much anymore? Why do you think that is and what impact do you believe it is having on society, especially on our kids to simply ignore the subjects of temptation and sin?
“The typical temptation of the young is lust, of the middle-aged ambition, and of the elderly bitterness. Actually, all three drives are similar and related: ambition is a refined lust, bitterness a disappointed one.”
Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew
“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness – they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.”
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“Even here, in your repentance, you must not only turn from temptation and sin but also turn to Christ. He is the one who both preserves the tempted and restores the fallen. So wherever you are in respect to temptation and sin, seek Christ.”
Brian G. Hedges, Watchfulness
