OVERCOMING TEMPTATION

A proverb says, "You can't help a bird landing on your head, but you can stop it building a nest!" As we walk through life we can't help many temptations flying into our minds but we can stop them building a nest and hatching a family of horrible habits. The reason why so many yield to temptation is because human beings by nature tend to love evil rather than good. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that children automatically tend to be naughty rather than good. We do not have to teach them how to tell lies but we do have to insist that they tell the truth. The sad fact is that even though we may teach them God's laws of morality, they will still be powerless to overcome the downward pull of sin. It is when we reach this point of failure and recognise that there is no human philosophy that has the power to overcome inbred sin, that the Christian gospel becomes music to our ears. The word gospel means 'good news' and there can hardly be better news than this, that God can actually implant in our souls a new clean and vigorous inner life that can overcome the old twisted nature. The Apostle Paul summed it up in this astonishing statement, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold all things have become new."! [ 2 Corinthians 5:17 ]

By confessing that we are powerless to overcome our evil desires, and by turning to Christ for help and forgiveness, we receive God's Holy Spirit. From then on we find that we want to pray to our heavenly Father and to feed upon His word. As we allow this new energy to express itself in loving kindness so the eggs of evil will be broken.