Wednesday, March 10: Temptations common to man!

“I deal with temptation by yielding to it.”

---Mark Twain


Another celebrated author had a different perspective.

“’Tis one thing to be tempted, another thing to fail.”

---William Shakespeare


We know every man will face temptation, and at least part of the time, every man will yield to it. That is the battle called life. The Greek word for temptation is peirasmos (πειρασμός), and it is the same word for a test. Those temptations haven’t changed much over time as they are the same ones that faced Adam and Eve.


6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Genesis 3:6-7


A verse in the New Testament helps to put that Old Testament verse into perspective:


16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
1 John 2:16


Eve was hungry for the fruit that God had forbidden both Adam and Eve to eat. In that hunger, she wanted to satisfy the “lust of the flesh.” We are physical and spiritual beings. The spirit craves God while the flesh craves carnal sustenance, like food, drink and sex. Eve also noticed that the fruit was pleasant to the eyes, and demonstrated the “lust of the eyes” that Paul described. Satan told Eve that if she ate of the fruit that God had forbidden, she would be “like God, knowing good and evil.” Wanting to have that knowledge, she demonstrated the “pride of life.”


Eve failed the test in front of her that day, as did Adam, who followed his wife into that failure. As they did, they cast us all into our roles as the “sons of disobedience.” Lest we blame Adam and Eve for our plight, each one of us would have failed in the same manner. What we need to remember is that our God is omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful) and omnipresent (existing everywhere simultaneously). Satan, on the other hand, is none of those. Instead, he is cunningly deceitful and knows what deceptive practices will work best to cause us to stumble. He was masterful in his ploy against Eve, and has had years since to perfect his evil craft.


In the next few days, we will focus more intensely on each of these categories. For today, remember that Satan’s forces involve one-third of the angels from heaven, who followed him in his folly to become God’s equal. Knowing that there are more angels than the sands of the sea reminds us of the major, daily battle going on. Spiritual warfare is not imagined. Nor is it less damaging than physical warfare. Open your spiritual eyes and realize that the Lord, your God, will fight your battles for you! He has surrounded you with His heavenly host!