Through Trials of Temptation…
This post is going to be a little
different than what I usually write about.
I’m not giving you tips on how to live a good life, telling you what to
eat, or what make-up products to use.
I’m hoping that today we can have a heart-to-heart conversation about a
problem that is very real and persistent in the lives of so many people. I
prayed a lot before I opened my computer to start writing this. And I pray that you will open up your soul to
receive the message I’m going to attempt to convey here.
The only resource I’m using today in
this post is my Bible. I want this to
speak to everyone reading this, but specifically the young people here like me,
who may be struggling with this issue right at this moment. There are so many issues going on in our
world today that people my age are struggling with and maybe they don’t have
anyone to tell them these stories, or maybe they don’t know Jesus at all. Whatever the case may be, I want this to
speak to them.
Eve was the first human to struggle
with this. God had given her and Adam
one simple rule to follow. That rule was
that they could eat from any tree in the garden of Eden, all except for the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16). So God told Adam that he could have the fruit
from ANY tree he wanted except for that specific tree, or if they did then they
would certainly die. He had a lot of
options in the garden for food. But one day
after Eve was created from Adam’s rib, a serpent came along and asked if she
and Adam were allowed to eat fruit from the garden. Eve told the serpent what God had said. The serpent told Eve that they would not die
if they ate the fruit, but that they would be like God and know good and evil
(Genesis 3:4-5).
So here she was, in the middle of the
garden talking to this serpent, Eve probably didn’t know what to do. She could just ignore the temptation and
follow the rule God had given her and Adam, or she could eat the fruit like the
serpent told her to do. Well, Eve gave
in and ate the fruit. After she ate some
herself, she gave some to Adam (and here we also see Adam being tempted by his
wife, Eve) who also ate the fruit from the forbidden tree. This is where sin first began.
Once they had eaten the fruit, what
happened next? Did they die immediately
like God said they would? No, but as you
can imagine, God wasn’t so happy. The
first humans had disobeyed him and He decided they must be punishment. His punishment for man and woman was not
death as He had first said, but He punished them by giving them physical and
emotional pain that would affect them later in life (Genesis 3:14-19).
Because Eve gave into temptation, sin
entered the world. If Eve hadn’t given
into the temptation and didn’t eat from the forbidden tree, could you imagine
what our world would be like? No one
would make mistakes, no one would make bad choices, there would be no such
thing as a crime, everything would be perfect.
Not exactly. Because when we sin,
we learn from those mistakes and those lessons make us wiser for the future.
Let’s take a look at another example from
God’s word. This time we’re in Matthew chapter
4, during the time when Jesus was fasting for 40 days. He was led into the wilderness by Satan, who
told Him to make stones into bread (Matthew 4:3-4). Jesus resisted, only to be tempted again by
Satan to throw Himself off of a high point on a temple (Matthew 4:5-7). Again, Jesus resisted. After that, Satan told Him to worship him and
he would give Jesus kingdoms and thrones.
By this time, Jesus had had enough and sent the devil away.
Jesus did not give into the
temptation. Keep in mind, He was also
fasting so He was probably very hungry. But
Jesus does not give into any kind of temptations. He is the example we should live by each time
we are tempted by something in our lives.
We cannot resist temptation as easily as Jesus, because we are only
human and not perfect. But we can
surround ourselves with positive people and influences that will help us make
good decisions.
If you’ve ever been in a tempting
situation, you know it’s not so easy to say no.
In fact, it will probably be one of the hardest things you’ll ever have
to do. But the one thing you can do is
in that moment, just pray and ask God for His guidance on what you should
do. Then all you have to do is ask yourself,
“would Jesus do this?” That should help
you and give you all the wisdom you need to make the best choice.
Adam and Eve brought sin into this
world, but you always have a choice to sin.
We are not perfect and will always make mistakes, but luckily we have a
forgiving father in Heaven who does not judge us by our past mistakes and loves
us even when we do wrong. There is
nothing greater than His love and grace and He is with us in every situation we
face.
