James 1:12-15
Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.
Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.
Scripture quotations from The Message. © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress, Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved.
Do you understand the difference between a test and a temptation? Let’s say you decide to lose twenty pounds by practicing portion control and exercising five days a week. It will be a test of your determination to stick with the routine and develop the habit of eating less and working out regularly. If someone invites you to go out for an all-you-can-eat-buffet dinner or encourages you to skip a workout to do something you consider more fun, these would be thought of as temptations.
In Spiritual terms, how you meet challenges and trials that come along could be considered a test of your faith in God. He allows us to endure certain troubles and hardships to see if we will truly operate in faith and courage… if we will rely on Him to equip us to handle whatever burdens we face. God doesn’t cause these situations, but He can use them to see how fully we trust Him to meet our needs. Sometimes we are so overwhelmed by our hardships that we throw up our hands and ask, “What’s the point?” We turn to alcohol, drugs, gambling or spending money we don’t have… we drive too fast and take unnecessary risks, spend too much money on things we don’t need, stop studying - or quit school altogether - or we give up on getting fit and healthy, go back to eating whatever we please, and stop exercising.
When we do this, we have succumbed to temptation. And we have no one to blame for the outcome but ourselves. We have given in to evil and the lure of Satan, and we are operating in sin. Understand the difference. It is one thing to say that, “God is testing me,” and quite another to state that “God is trying to trip me up.” The last statement simply is not true.
When we start to understand that God doesn’t operate in temptation, we realize that to succumb to the devil’s wiles and seduction disavows our faith in God. We are denying His ability to strengthen and equip us to meet any and all challenges. In other words, when we give in to temptation, we fail the test.
I don’t ever want to dishonor God. I most certainly don’t want to grieve Him. I’ll be the first to admit that some of His tests are really, really hard! But the rewards are so worth the effort. God’s love, grace and mercy will overcome any and all obstacles to achieving success. So the question for all of us today is this… “Are we operating in faith and stepping up to the plate to accept God’s tests… or have we yielded to the temptations of the devil?”
Tests and temptations are NOT the same thing. Be certain you know the difference… and always make the right choices.
©2012 Debbie Robus
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