Living By Faith Blog

Blindsided

I hung up the phone, furious.

The person on the phone had said some deeply hurtful things, and I wanted to find my wife and tell her all about it.

But then I remembered a verse — “Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends” (Prov 17:9).

Which means that unless absolutely necessary, I should avoid talking about someone’s offenses.

The battle begins

My anger made me want to tell my wife, so I could be comforted, so she could side with me against him, and so I could have the pleasure of criticizing him.

But in this case I knew there was no good reason to tell my wife. I knew that telling her would cause her pain, and I would be slandering and seeking revenge.

But still — I wanted to tell her. Badly.

I was facing temptation

So how can we resist temptation?

Temptations come in all shapes and sizes. We can be tempted to lie to the boss, eat too much, exaggerate a story — the list goes on and on.

But behind every temptation lurks the same lie — that something else will satisfy us more than Jesus Christ.

How to resist temptation

So the way to resist temptation is not by gritting our teeth so we don’t do what we want to do (tell my wife, eat another cookie, click on the porn).

The way to resist temptation is by fighting the fight of faith until we are so satisfied in Jesus Christ that lesser satisfactions have no pull.

Let’s say you are hungry.  Starving.  Joy in Jesus is like baby-back ribs sizzling on the barbecue. Sin is like a moldy peanut-butter sandwich in the gutter.

You will only be tempted to eat the moldy peanut-butter sandwich in the gutter — if you’ve forgotten the ribs on the barbecue.

So the way to resist that temptation is by remembering the ribs, heading to the barbecue, and helping yourself.

That’s what God enabled me to do after I got off the phone.

Here’s what I did –

I turned to Jesus just as I was and looked to Him for help.

I didn’t try to get over my anger first — that can happen only through Jesus’ power. So I turned my heart towards Jesus Christ and trusted Him to help me.

I confessed my sin — that I was trusting something else to satisfy me more than Jesus.

I was not trusting Jesus as my heart-satisfaction. I had turned from Jesus, and was trusting the comfort that would come from talking bad about this person and from my wife’s sympathy.

So I confessed this sin to Jesus. I asked Him to help me see how I had dishonored him by turning from Him. I told Him I was sorry. I asked Him to forgive and cleanse me (1 John 1:9).

And as I trusted Him, I was assured that I was completely forgiven and cleansed, and that God’s goodness and mercy were coming to get me (Psa 23:6).

I prayed earnestly for God to change my heart by the power of the Spirit.

At that point I did not have much desire for Jesus. What I desired was comfort from my wife and the revenge of slandering someone.

So I needed a heart-change — a change that only God can make (Luke 18:27). So I humbled myself before God, admitted that I could not change myself, and asked Him to change my heart.

I set my heart prayerfully on Jesus and His promises.

Jesus promises that meditation on His Word will free us from sin (John 8:31-32). So I brought to mind verses about who Jesus is — like Tit 2:13; I John 3:16; Rev 1:5.

I also pondered verses about what Jesus has promised — that He would satisfy me (John 6:35), and that He would bring about justice (Rom 12:19).

I prayed over these verses, asking God to open my eyes so I could once again feel the surpassing value of knowing Christ (Phil 3:8).

I also prayed over God’s warnings.

Warnings are like strong coffee — they wake us up to the seriousness of continuing in sin. So I pondered warnings like Matt 12:36-37; Matt 18:35; and Rom 8:13.

These strengthened my resolve to keep fighting the fight of faith until my heart was changed.

I continued to pray over God’s Word until the Spirit changed my heart.

Sometimes this takes a while. This time — not so long.

After a few minutes I felt my heart start to change. First there was a deep peace — that God was pleased, that He was going to help me, that He would fully change my heart.

Then the truths of Jesus started to feel rich — life-giving — powerful. My heart was drawn to Jesus. This increased until the temptation was conquered — and I was free.

That’s how to resist temptation.

This is different.

This is not the same as trying hard not to slander. Or resolving not to slander. Or distracting myself so I won’t slander.

This is bringing my tempted heart directly to Jesus. This is fighting the fight of faith with the Word and prayer.

This is continuing to fight until the Spirit makes Jesus so real to me that the desire for slander disappears — like the desire for a moldy peanut butter sandwich disappears when I smell baby-back ribs.

Jesus will do the same for you. He promises — in John 8:31-32.

Before you go …

I’d love to hear how this impacted you.  Leave a comment in the box below — thanks!

Do you know someone who needs to know how to resist temptation?  Email this to them using the “share” button below — or use the buttons to share it on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+.

If you would like to receive a Saturday email summarizing the week’s posts — subscribe here.  (I will only use your email address for Living By Faith Blog communications — and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)

And here’s some related posts you might find helpful –

• It's Dangerous Being a Pastor
• 6 Reasons Heart-Satisfaction Is Crucial
• Don't Settle for just Knowing the Truth -- FEEL the Truth (a 4-min video)
• C. S. Lewis on Motivation, Self-Denial, and Rewards

(Picture from stockvault.net by Jacob Krechowicz.)