Indecisiveness of Temptation

There are times when life offers you choices. At those times, you either risk making a mistake, or find that your decision brought you success. In this devotion, I will be talking about another kind of decision.

People who are caught between a rock and a hard place in life stumble upon situations that force them to choose. It can be a lifestyle, an addiction that takes a hold of you, or a relationship that led you to a major dilemma in life.

You may have thought you were strong enough to resist this in your life, but here you are,stuck and still hanging on. Years ago, when I used to assess personal situations, certain words or verses would come to mind that would give me strength or release me. They seemed so potent or powerful at the time. I didn't know why.

Later, when I became busy with work,life, and stopped reading the Word, I would find myself the target of temptations. A lot of time, I was favoured with busyness and with accountability to family, friends,or a church, and I always remembered from past advice and drew knowledge from that.

A new crisis sometimes occurs, one that you have never handled before, and sometimes it creeps in without you even being aware what is happening. It can be in the form or a game, or a subtle delusion, or even a snare of outsiders who want to manipulate you for fun. They say they don't mean you harm, but they do serious damage to you.
They are not always empathetic to this at first.

An example may be a person who is a friend who uses your name fradulently to have an affair, or it can be you yourself who is unaware you can be tempting a friend. At times, these incidents may turn into a relationship behind the scenes. I think there are people this happens to a whole lot, or they are around this so much that they lose sight that it is wrong.

With an addiction, it can start at a party, or when you are home alone and are idle.
It may replace another addiction or be a sign that you are compensating for something else that is missing in your life. I remember fearing food - a -holism after hearing about it for the first time at a high school lecture, and I finally got to think about it and realized that was not the area where I was to be tempted. It may not have been a weak point to me, but I remember engaging in a mental debate in myself about it for a couple of days.

I think songs like Michele Wagner's, "Beautiful" allowed me to get through that doubt faster, and then there was a singer named Kim (whose last name I can't remember)reminded me that if they don't honour God, they are not going to honour you. That helped me keep away from people trolling for sex at the time. There was another one where it reminded you that if they cared, they would wait for you.

Now that I am older, I realise men are being pressured by their buddies and in the world, they feel they have to prove themselves to their contingent and keep a score card to prove their manliness. It sounds like a stupid reason to prey upon a woman, but it is another version of peer pressure. A lot of men never learned to handle this in school, nor were they ever expected to say no by their elders.

Michael W. Smith has a song with the words, "if the lord's the lord of them" that also kept me on track for years. (Friends song)

I found this one on You Tube just today. This makes you think about the problem,the mulling over the decision, the back and forth of it, and the trouble it brings to a person in his or her course of life.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4wvMueCQIs&feature=related

Temptation seems to get the best of most of us.

I think it is a sign that decisions have to be made in life, and you have to mentally process the feelings and choices that go along with those feelings. Either it is safe for you to do it, or thinking about it can be dangerous and lead you to doing it. So, you have to know which way it is with you.

Trust in God to handle it for you, if you place the situation in His hands.

People are embarrassed to admit to God and to their friends that they are being tempted by something or someone. They are ashamed that it can be viewed negatively by their minister or church. So, they avoid discussing it altogether.

There isn't enough teaching about it, because people feel it is not as important,perhaps, or they think they can never be susceptible to it. I don't think there is any other time better than now to get a handle on this situation.

If you're in a position such as this, you are not alone. Trust a counselor or a good friend who would have you use good judgment,standards,values, and morals. Talk it through. Temptation has pricked even great leaders, priests, ministers, and it is the first test that a child goes through as he or she matures.

Feelings are given to us to process things. It is not a matter of shame. What happens when you fall into temptation or succumb to it is what causes damage outside yourself. Sometimes, you may manage to hide it, and no one ever finds out. Other times,it causes loss, desolation, sin, and you feel rejected and unwanted or used afterward.

This is a serious crises within you, so seek help.

Seek guidance from the Word.

I always liked the promise from the Bible:

"Seek ye first the Kingdom of God..all these things will be added to you." I think that what you can feel is assurance from that and salvation, not to mention peace of mind that you made peace with yourself and with God.


I found a reason why I may be tempted in the first place. I figured that I may not be visiting the Scriptures as regularly as I should, or even thinking upon God. Isolating from God makes me alienated, and I may not be in a relationship that I need as a result of that. Instead, a relationship that I WANT has crept in and substituted for what I need to do. This wasn't the only reason. I think I had other reasons for being tempted in the areas of thought.

Now, I realize I can sometimes confuse liking a person for being tempted by them. It's because I didn't process what I feel for them yet, or others may be telling me that I like them as a form of entertainment or gossip, and I may have digested this somehow. Lately, I find that I feel things for people I don't know or haven't met yet.

That, in of itself, does not worry me, because I can always say it is an infatuation or a crush, but if I were given the actual opportunity to pursue it, I may think of it. I have to admit this to myself. I may not be fool - hardy to pursue it in actuality, but thinking about it can actually make me stumble.

That's the whole point! You have to have a firm footing on the ground on which to stand, so you will not stumble or trip.

In this instance, I would either remove myself from the danger of exposing myself to it, or I would discipline my mind to stop thinking about it altogether. That, however, only comes through practice or constancy on the Word.

I also believe that all good people are tempted,so we have to go to an expert on it.

Jesus

He would be the ideal one to ask and to pray to and ask what to do.

I condemn people who expose people for being tempted or make fun of them by playing games with them, writing false texts or emails to further it along, or impersonate the intended person this person is trying to get over. In some cultures, people actually get into major trouble for this. People goad them,stalk them, disable or maim them for dwelling on temptation that may possibly lead to adultery.

Another way I look at the problem is with objectivity and subjectivity.

If I distance myself from the situation, I can actually feel what I am going through and tell myself what I need to, and steer myself away from the problem. The other way is to SEE the PERSON as a PERSON and not as an OBJECT or an OBJECT of desire.
If I see their life, their person, or their family, I may be able to make the right decision sooner than if I look at them through fantasy or a scene out of context.

I ask myself things regarding addictions. "Is this going to help me or harm me?"

If I know I can stop and know for sure, I may escape. But, what if I am not sure?

If you have a doubt or tension in that situation, then you KNOW it is an area where you might stumble.

To sum it up, doubts only happen if you are insecure about a situation. To feel secure, examine why these feelings may be coming up at the current time. Place them in context, and place the person in the context of the time. (For example, I am feeling lonely that my husband is away, and I am replacing someone else who happens to be around..etc.) This may sound trite, but it may be helpful to see if this is the same reason the temptation occurs the next time around.

Verses to Look Up: When you face temptation by people, places, or things..or, if it applies, animals, vegetables, or minerals.


http://bible.cc/romans/3-23.htm

http://bible.cc/psalms/119-11.htm

http://bible.cc/romans/3-23.htm


In the mean time, if you cannot study the verses or the Word, distract yourself until you can. Think about other things. That will help you and make your resistance stronger.

Have Faith.