by Le Roy Dugan
E very C hristian f a l l s enough times to realize that we need to know what■to do to overcome tempta tion. One moment before we begin—a person who has Christ within does not make a practice of sinning. All that ended the instant he was con verted. What we are concerned with are the temptations to stray momen- 'tarily from the path the Lord has laid out for the Christian life. As suming, then, that you are a Chris tian, you may find the following sug gestions helpful in your life. Keep away from the causes of temptation. There can be no doubt that much of the difficulty young Christians have comes from their un necessary contacts wi t h tempting things. A young fellow may be hav ing a terrible time being drawn to ward worldliness. He cannot under stand why. The solution is ridicu lously simple. On his bookshelves are hot rod and TV magazines. He is cultivating an appetite for the things of this world and subjecting himself to needless temptation. Ke ep i ng away from unnecessary causes of temptation may mean that you’ll have to quit taking a certain maga zine, or stop watching TV, or stop listening to certain kinds of music, or drop some of your school com panions. Jesus said, “ If thy right eye cause thee to stumble, pluck it out.” Adopt a right attitude toward temptation. When unavoidable temp tation begins to press you, the Bible says you are to “ count it all joy.” God never permits such a temptation without a definite purpose in mind. It is one of His means of giving you spiritual “ muscles.” There is a fanci ful story of a weakling who drank a magic potion which affected his make-up in a marvelous way. Every time he was bumped or struck by someone else, he got stronger and the opponent weaker. It was such an
will power only, he is sure to lose the match. Do not blame the devil for your temptations. We are not suggesting that the devil is not the tempter. We are not implying that temptation comes from God. But constant point ing of the finger at Satan is bound to have two effects. First, it tends to give the idea that every temptation is the result of a personal visit from the Prince of Darkness. Such a view makes a trial look insurmountable. Next, it shifts the responsibility of overcoming, so that the Christian can later say, “ The devil got me, and there was nothing I could do.” It is much more correct to simply realize that a “ man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed,” and Satan himself is prob ably not within a thousand miles. Satan is a localized personality and cannot possibly make a special attack on every Christian each time that one is drawn away toward sin. Overcome each temptation by faith. The Bible does not say, “ The life that I now live, I live by strug gling, or striving, or straining,” but “ by faith.” Each fiery dart that flies your way can be warded off by one thing only — faith in Jesus Christ. No one will claim that it is always easy, but we do insist that it is al ways effective. It works, because it is God’s prescribed way of overcom ing. It sounds too simple, and there fore it is attempted too little. The truth of the matter is that immedi ate confidence in Jesus is certain to give victory over every temptation which you can ever meet. Immedi ate confidence in Jesus — that is what faith is. As soon as that con fidence goes out to Jesus when your soul is on trial, the victory becomes His problem, not yours, and the out come is certain. Reprinted by permission from LeRoy Dugan’s new book, Youth’s Exciting Possibilities, pub lished by Bethany Fellowship, Inc., copyright 1963. Available from the Biola Book Room, price $ 1 . 00 .
effective thing that he was soon transformed from frailty to strength. The Lord is after something like that in allowing His children to be buffeted with temptation. Do not concentrate on temptation. Concentrating on something has the effect of making it appear more pow erful than it really is. Such is cer tainly the case in the matter of temptation. Any young athlete will tell us that the longer he looks at the opponent across the ball field, the bigger he seems to get. When you are being tempted about something, it is sometimes best not even to talk it over in prayer, because rethink ing the matter very often only makes it seem more irresistible. Then, too, some people talk to others so much about the awful times they are hav ing that the effect is the same. It is right to take your temptations to God and a l s o t o understanding friends. But rehashing them con stantly will only make matters worse. Nowhere in the Word of God are we directed to concentrate on tempta tion. Do not struggle with temptation. We need to be careful here. The Bible reminds us to resist, pray, and be on the watch regarding tempta tion; but it never indicates that we are ever big enough to overcome it ourselves. Remember the story we heard when we were very small ? It told of a self-sufficient rabbit who felt he had been insulted by a little creature made out of very sticky tar. To put his enemy in his place, the rabbit struck him a hearty blow with his hand. When that stuck fast, he used his other hand. The more he flailed the “tar-baby” the more he be came entangled in tar, until at last he was unable to move. The illustra tion may be crude, but its lesson is unmistakable. Christians very often do the same thing with their tempta tions that the rabbit did. As long as a believer wrestles temptations with
MAY, 1964
15
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs