You and I have faced that rush of adrenaline at least once in our lives, haven’t we? And everyday we experience the knocking on our door of things that give us exciting, illegitimate, and temporal pleasure. And for all the years of the world’s history, mankind in existence has never stopped facing temptation.
There is no antidote
When you’ve already been bitten
Often times when we are tempted, we try to stand our ground and fight. And when we are consistently walking with God, He gives us the strength to stand and overcome. But what we fail to realize is that oftentimes God is already telling us to run and flee because we are already in the center of temptation. Don’t get me wrong, God is not powerless against temptation but our flesh makes us weak against it – to the point that we succumb to its temporal rewards.
When you are tempted, know that you’ve already been bitten and there is no antidote. Only God can save you. You have to run and flee – go away from your temptation zone as far as you can. Then ask God to save you. You may not realize it, but the poison is already making it’s way to your heart. And at those times, you need God.
We all have our snakes
Don’t you realize that each person struggles with a personal temptation? Yes it’s all personal. Each one is tempted in a different way and of a different sort. Why? Well we all have our own desires – desires that are rooted on our own evil nature embodied in the heart of man.
“When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” – James 1:13-15
Notice the Bible says ‘own evil desire’? It’s because we all have our own snakes. There are temptations that get to us and there are temptations that have yet to bite. One thing is for certain though, we all need God and we all need freedom from the poison. Temptation will always be there.
God knows I never wanted to cheat on my taxes – that doesn’t mean I’m not faced with the temptation of greed. Everyone is tempted. Everyone has been bitten and there is no antidote – there’s only God. And He is the only one who can save us. Only if we let Him.
So let Him.
