Temptation, 7of13

~ 5 Reasons Temptation Is Not Sin ~

#5 Free Will  ~  The entire concept of man’s free will—the ability to make decisions—requires the ability to make less than perfect choices.  God wants a relationship with every one of us—but what value is there in relationship if it is not mutually voluntary?  Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17). 

#4 Temptation Provides Rewards  ~  “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (James 1:12). 

#3 Temptation Produces Growth  ~  “We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.  Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:3-5). 

#2 The Lesson of Creation  ~  “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” (Genesis 2:16-17). 

#1 The Sinless Son of God Was Tempted  ~  “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil…  the tempter came to Him…” (Matthew 4:1-3). 

C.S. Lewis Quote  ~  “A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means.  This is an obvious lie.  Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is.  After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in.  You find out the strength of the wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down.  A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later.  That is why bad people know very little about badness.  They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.  We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight against it; and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means—the only complete realist.” 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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