March/98
Recently someone came to me troubled by wrong thoughts. As we talked I found out Satan was tempting him by placing a thought in his head, then with a voice like an angel, accused him of being so wicked. This is the plot in the book of Job, two chapters are spent on the temptation of Job while the next 32 chapters are spent on Job’s friends accusing him of sin. As we talked, we opened the Bible to:
"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man." (1Co.10:13)
The scriptures never promise us that Christians will be free from temptations, rather they will continue to be tempted as all men. They must understand the difference between temptation and sin. Of Jesus we read:
"we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin." (He.4:15)
Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, with choices between following his Father or Satan. In His third temptation, Jesus was in the desert and Satan took him to a high mountain- being taken to the place of temptation is not sin. Then Satan showed Him all the kingdoms of the world- He couldn’t see all the kingdoms of the world with their splendor from there, yet He visualized them- which was not sin. Once seeing this, Jesus was then given an initial thought offering a course of action when Satan said:
"All this I will give you, if you will bow down and worship me." (Mt.4:9)
Jesus was tempted with Satanic worship, but in all this it was only temptation and not sin. There is no limit to the depth of depravity of thoughts that Satan will pop into our minds, then accuse us of being so wicked. Sometimes we as christians might be led to a place of temptation or visualize a temptation, being offered an initial thought with a course of action, but as with Jesus it is not sin. Sin is committed when we either carry out the temptations through our actions or in our thoughts (Mt.5:28). For we can sin by our thoughts:
"For the word of God is living and active. ... it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (He.4:12)
Disciples need to be aware that to continue after the temptation, entertaining oneself with the pleasures of it, is sin! We must also teach them to seek God’s promised grace enabling them to stand under all temptations:
"God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." (1Co.10:13; He.4:16; Lk.11:4)
For as God helped Job by limiting the tempter, He also promises to limit His children’s temptations to bearable amounts so to enable them to become strong, just as a weight-lifter increases his weights.