Temptation.....

"Temptation is the pull of man's own evil thoughts and wishes … [that will] lead to evil actions."
James 1: 14~15

Did you ever stop to think that what the mind dwells on the body acts on!

How temptation might work.....
 A thought comes to mind from seemingly nowhere—maybe from ourselves or from the tempter. 
We choose (mostly unconsciously) to harbor and dwell on that thought and, as we do, it hooks into our emotions, and the more we think about it, the stronger we feel about it. 
Then we begin to visualize in our mind what we want to do and then, unless we make a conscious choice to stop thinking about it, we give in to the temptation. The battle is won or lost in the mind before we ever act out the temptation.

One of many dangers in continually giving in to temptation is: 
"If we don't live the life we believe, we will end up unhappily believing the life we live." 

We do this because as long as we don't consistently live the life we believe, our mind experiences what is called "cognitive dissonance"; that is, mental disharmony..... 


Because we can't tolerate this mental conflict, we can end up changing our beliefs to match our behavior and rationalize everything we do—a dangerous path to follow. 
The Bible calls the consequence having a dead conscience. (James 1: 15)

In other words......
 "If we don't live the life we believe, we will end up unhappily believing the life we live"—a dangerous and self-destructive way to live.

No wonder the Bible teaches us to...
 "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."   2 Cor 10:5


 And, "…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."   Phil 4:8



Consideration......
* When I am battling a temptation .....
"Resist the devil and he will flee from you." James 4:7
Because Christ died for us and cleansed us from our sins, we can, in his name, resist the devil and, as James said, he will flee from us! Satan hates the name of Jesus. Be sure to mention it when Satan comes to tempt you. Instead of trying to reason with Satan, just remind him of his future and mention the name of Jesus … and pray a simply prayer, "Help God! Help!" 
* When I am consistent with this prayer and truly mean it, soon the tempting thoughts leave my mind. 
* This is a simple way to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
* Ask God (Holy Spirit) to...
- help us to guard against harboring negative thoughts that could lead us into temptation and sin....
- dwell on positive and wholesome thoughts that will lead to positive and wholesome living...
* Our integrity is tested on the job every day as we make decisions.  With pressures and temptations to give in to dishonesty, greed, cutting corners, and taking advantage of people, we might rightly ask:
"How can I be a person of integrity and still succeed in Life?"


Shalom