“I really shouldn’t,”
I thought to myself.
I stared at the second brownie on my dessert plate.
A line from Star Trek flitted through my mind, “Resistance
is futile.”
“I could take it home
for tomorrow,” I mused. “But some of
the ice cream melted onto the brownie; it’s too messy to transport. I better
just eat it now,” I rationalized in my head.
“Resistance is futile. . . futile. . . futile. . .”
“Ugh! Too full—again!
No wonder I get “the burps” and my jeans don’t fit like they used to! If only I
wouldn’t give in to the temptation to eat more than is healthy for me,” I
lamented with an audible groan.
Sound familiar? While to some people occasional overeating may not seem too serious on the enticement scale, as Christians we face a myriad of potentially derailing spiritual temptations that can be very hard to resist--joining
in on the boss-bashing at work, whispering a bit of juicy gossip, having “the
last word” in an argument, passing the blame for shortcomings onto someone else,
. . . eating that second brownie—the list is endless and very personalized.
What can we do about temptation? How can we resist? God’s
Word is full of advice!
- Prepare by learning Scriptures (Psalm 119:11) so we can fight like Jesus did. (Matthew 4:1-11)
- Pray. (Matthew 26:41)
- Look for the way out that God promises to provide. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
- Consider the consequences. (Proverbs 6: 27-28)
- Think about something else—something pleasing to God. (Philippians 4:8)
- Remember where temptation originates. (James 1:13-15)
- Be on guard. (1 Peter 5:8-10)
- Don’t be over-confident. (1 Corinthians 10:12)
What have you found that helps you resist temptation? What
scriptures bolster your faith to overcome temptation?
Be encouraged!
©2017 Pamela D. Williams
