A young man once asked me about temptation. He said, “There are times when I find myself wanting to do things that I know that I shouldn’t do. How am I to handle that?”
His experience is perfectly normal. Satan is going to see to it that we are tempted. He is going to place wrong desires in our minds. He is going to try to lead us astray.
Here’s the advice I gave him.
First, we must know the word of God well enough to recognize what Satan is trying to do. We must draw upon all of the intellectual, moral, and spiritual resources available to withstand the temptation.
There are times when our only recourse is to “bite the bullet.” Temptation always means a struggle. Resistance is never easy. We must decide what is right and make ourselves do it.
Second, what’s right must not be sacrificed on the altar of our wishes and desires. If we lived life on that level, students would never go to class, laborers would never go to work, and none of us would ever go to the dentist. The results would be decay in more ways than one.
Life is tons and tons of discipline. It is doing what we ought to do, rather than what we may want to do.
Third, living the Christian life is difficult. It requires the strength of character to say no to wrong and yes to right. It demands the courage to face the ridicule of those who may laugh at you when you make your commitment to do right.
Fourth, good associates will also help. We must be careful of the people we run with. They either drag us down or we lift them up. It is usually easier to drag somebody else down than to lift somebody up. Normally we will either change our friends or change our habits.
Fifth, pray much. Many people, including me, have found strength beyond themselves when they prayed. When we look to God we can say with the apostle, “I can do all things through Christ who strengtheneth me.”