Temptation
Begins in the Mind
But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning,
your minds may somehow be led astray
from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 2
Corinthians 11:3
In the years following World War 2, people asked the question, "how
could a cultured and enlightened nation like Germany allow itself to
descend to the point of permitting the horrors of the Nazi regime,
especially the mass murder of six million Jews simply because they were
Jews?" How could this happen?
The History Channel has been featuring a series of movies on the end of
the Third Reich, and one prominently featured the last days of Joseph
Goebbels. Goebbels, Hitler's Minister of Propaganda is noted for his
saying that you can get people to believe anything if you make the lie
big enough and keep repeating it.
They did not have to begin from scratch; however, as anti-Semitism was
a respectable view point not just in Europe but even here in Canada.
Before the holocaust was in full tilt, the government of Canada, among
others, turned back a boatload of Jewish refugees, not wanting
them in the country. Eventually they had to return to Europe where gas
ovens awaited.
A more recent example:
Radical Islamic clerics are undermining
the World Health Organization's efforts to vaccinate children in
Pakistan. Whenever vaccines are handed out to aid the country in its
fight against disease, clerics spread rumors that the medicine is
actually an effort to sterilize children. They call the medicine
"infidel vaccines." The idea fashioned in the minds of whoever will
listen is simple: "The health organization is not here to help you.
They are here to hurt you—to snuff out an entire race of people."
Sadly, their efforts have been quite successful. Parents of 24,000
children have refused treatment.1
How could this happen?
It begins with a lie.
And temptation begins with a lie, and that is critical to remember.
Cain was jealous of his brother, Abel. God said to him,
If
you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do
what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you,
but you must master it.
He did not.
He believed the lie that somehow Abel's blessing was diminishing him.
David's sin with Bathsheba began with a thought, actually a lie. The
lie was that a liaison with her would lead to something good, rather
than to death; that he would find joy not misery. And that all this
could happen and no one would find out or get hurt.
James 1 verse fourteen and fifteen says:
but
each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away
and enticed.
Then, after desire has conceived, it
gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to
death.
Of course the prototype of all lies is written in Genesis: 3:
“You
will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it
your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and
evil.”
This is the foundation of all lies:
1. You can't trust God who doesn't
really care.
2. If you want happiness, you have to find it on your own.
This is the root of temptation, that taking God by faith will not lead
to happiness.
And the flip side is exhibited in the life of Abraham and Sara.
The Bible says that Abraham's faith in God is considered the same as
righteousness.
It doesn't mean Abraham never did anything wrong. That would be
impossible.
What it means is that Abraham had a deep trust in God, and that when
the chips were down was willing to believe that what God had to say
about something was undoubtedly right.
He and Sara went off course from time to time, but always came back to
home base--trust in God.
God even tested Abraham as severely as a person can be tested, not with
his own life, but with the life of his son.
We know that God did not require the life of Abraham's son.
There was only one son whose life was required and it was not Isaac, it
was Jesus.
In fact, entrusting our children to God's way is the way we preserve
them.
We help our children by teaching them from God's word and then by
acting on it ourselves.
As our children see that we trust what God says and that we trust it
enough to act on it, we give them the best defense against temptation
we can.
And its never too late to start.
In fact one of the most important truths that family systems theory has
to teach us is that it only takes one person to begin making
substantial changes in their life to then impact the whole family.
A great place to begin is in taking word about life and putting it into
action.
That sounds like a tall order and you ask, "so where do I begin?"
Most of us know the area where we should begin, but if you don't spend
time daily reading good daily devotional literature and a few minutes
every day praying.
I guarantee you the Holy Spirit will show you where to begin.
Then begin making one simple change and staying with it.
See the difference it makes.
And it helps to surround yourself with people who implement the truth
into their own lives.
Here is a personal story by a writer by the name of Donald Miller.
I lived for a time with my friend and mentor John MacMurray, where the
first rule is to always tell the truth. John and I were sitting in the
family room one night when he asked about my new cell phone.
"I got it free," I told him.
"How did you get it for free?" he asked.
"Well, my other one broke, so I took it in to see if they could replace
it. They had this new computer system at the store and they didn't have
their records. They didn't know whether mine was still under warranty.
It wasn't, I knew, because it was more than a year old. The guy asked
me about it, and I told him I didn't know, but it was right around a
year. Just a white lie, you know. Anyway, the phone was so messed up
they replaced it with a newer model. So, I got a free phone."
"Did you ever see that movie The Family Man with Nicolas Cage?" John
asked. "There's this scene where Nicolas Cage walks into a store to get
a cup of coffee. And Don Cheadle plays the guy working at the counter.
There's a girl in line before Nicolas Cage, and she's buying something
for ninety-nine cents, and she hands Cheadle a dollar. Cheadle takes
nine dollars out of the till and counts it out, giving her way too much
change. She sees that he is handing her way too much money, yet she
picks it up and puts it in her pocket without saying a word. As she is
walking out the door, Cheadle stops her to give her another chance. He
asks her if there is anything else she needs. She shakes her head no
and walks out."
"I see what you're getting at, John," I say.
"Let me finish," he says. "So Cheadle looks over at Nicolas Cage, and
he says, 'Did you see that? She was willing to sell her character for
nine dollars. Nine dollars!'"
After a little while, I spoke up. "Do you think that is what I am doing
with the phone? Do you think I am selling my character?" And to be
honest, I said this with a smirk.
"I do," John said. "The Bible talks about having a calloused heart.
That's when sin, after a period of time, has so deceived us we no
longer care whether our thoughts and actions are right or wrong. Our
hearts will go there easily, and often over what looks like little
things—little white lies. All I am saying to you, as your friend, is,
watch for this kind of thing."
I went back to the store the next day. It cost me more than nine
dollars, but I got my character back.2.
Temptation always begins with a lie that you can't really take
God at face value and follow his guidance.
That is the surest way to disaster.
The surest way to safety is realizing that you can trust God with your
life and beginning the process of doing just that.
Preached
Dr. Harold McNabb
West Shore Presbyterian
Church
Victoria, British Columbia
Notes
1. Brian Lowery, associate editor,
PreachingToday.com; source: "The Buzz>>Quotables" World
(2-24-07), p.14
2. Reprinted from the Catalyst GroupZine Volume 2:
The Culture Issue. Copyright © 2006. Used by permission of INJOY
& Thomas Nelson Publishers, originally adapted fromTo Own a
Dragon© 2006 by Donald Miller and John MacMurray. Used by
permission of NavPress—www.navpress.com. All rights reserved
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