Connecting Point: Temptation 101

A Scottish church leader from the 1670s said, “Observe your hearts all times but especially under temptation. Temptation is a fire that brings up the scum of the vile heart: Do you carefully mark the first risings of corruption?” Some have incorrectly attributed this quote to William Shakespeare; however, the subject of temptation is always valid no matter what century an individual has lived in. I promote sticking to the basics, we can never go wrong when we hold that line in the wide range of life’s practices.

There’s only one person I know who has lived perfectly and never sinned, Jesus Christ. Jesus faced temptation just as we do, so his example is a case study that we can learn to emulate. None of us will ever be perfect but we certainly can give less into temptation, therefore, sinless. Keep in mind that temptation is not sin, giving into temptation leads to sin.

Luke provides us with a basic handbook of how to deal with temptation. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them, he was hungry. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’ The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’ The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down from here. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time,” (Luke 4:1-13).

In the 2nd Century Docetism, a belief that Jesus was not a real human being but only a spirit, arose to blunt the rapid growth of Christianity. This viewpoint spread as all false doctrines do, however, we learn some details in Luke’s writing that combat the heresy. Jesus ate nothing during this temptation, naturally, he became hungry proving he was more than some spirit. The bedrock principle of Christianity is that Jesus was fully God and fully man.

Jesus Christ as our foundation of faith presents us with a basic "how-to” manual on dealing with temptation. Everything that the devil threw at him was countered by Scripture, this should be our primary weapon as well. We also learn three things about our adversary. One; the devil hits us at our weak points. Two; the devil’s promises are sugar-coated yet those promises have deadly results. Three; the devil and his accomplices know

Scripture.