Sunday, January 10, 2010

January 10, 2010

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' " "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." Genesis 3:1-6



Temptation has been around longer than man. It goes way back to the Fall of Lucifer, the original sinner who influenced one-third of the angels into joining his rebellion. As a result, they were all booted from Heaven along with him. In my last post I began an examination of temptation saying that temptation begins with doubt. The Serpent got Eve to doubt the God's Word and His character.
Today, I want to take a look at the second aspect of temptation - delay.
When temptation comes to you, run from it as quickly as you can. Be like Joseph who ran right out of his garment when Potipher's wife tried to seduce him. If only Eve had been so inclined! But instead she stood there listening to the Tempter and looking at the fruit.
I believe it was St. Augustine who said, "I can't stop a bird from landing on my head, but I can keep him from building a nest in my hair." What was he saying? "Don't delay around temptation." If you do, temptation will become sin. You must leave before your resistence wears down.
The longer you think about sinning the more likely you are to do it, so why delay? Delayed obedience is disobedience. Disobedience, of course, is sin.
If you want to defeat sin and resist temptation don't say, "maybe" where God has said, "no!"
Doubt and delay are two powerful aspects of temptation that make it hard to defeat. Learn from Eve's mistake and don't repeat her delay. The moment temptation shows up, you ship out!