Moral Development

 

"How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?” Genesis 39:9 

Temptation slow-danced before him. She was beautiful, willing, and the boss would never know. Although this scenario is not unusual, Joseph’s response was. He did not hang around to weigh the odds of being caught or try to reason with teenage hormones. He saw this situation for what it was---sin against God. And because his commitment to God was greater than his commitment to himself, he got up and ran. His decision was not made in that moment of temptation. Only fools rely on willpower to come through at the last minute. No, Joseph’s decision was made the day he began to live as a friend of God.  

 We make decisions according to our level of moral development. We start out learning to do right based upon the promise of rewards or punishments. As we age, we are motivated by popular opinion or even our own moral code. But God designed us to live by a higher standard. The Bible calls it the “law of liberty” (Jms. 2:12). People at this level can be called “friends of God,” because they see life as an opportunity to advance God’s purposes, rather than their own. They can be trusted to do right even when no one knows, because their motivation is to please God. Because Joseph’s desire was to please God, he could resist temptation when most would have crumbled. Friends of God have already decided that sin is not worth it. They get up and run.

What is your motivation for making the choices you make? At what level of moral development are you living?

Welcoming Temptation

And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee… Luke 4:14

Temptation had been fierce. Every option that the devil offered to Jesus was appealing. For forty days and forty nights, the Son of God had been attacked mercilessly by Satan. Jesus’ human side cried out to be satisfied. Satan’s suggestions were not necessarily sinful actions; they were merely deviations from the will of God. But Jesus stayed true to the plan of God, and the result of His steadfast obedience was new power and authority. He had been anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism, but His faithful obedience put that anointing into practice. It was that anointing that empowered Him to walk in victory, speak with authority, and perform miraculous deeds that fulfilled the prophecies about Him. In conquering temptation, He showed us how to conquer it as well.

Our temptations do not always involve overtly sinful action. A temptation is an opportunity to direct one’s own path and veer away from the plan of God. Even Spirit-filled people struggle with temptation. The temptation itself is not sin; what we do about can be. Spiritual empowerment starts with crucifying our flesh (Rom. 6:6). When the Bible talks about our “flesh,” it means our old sin nature that refuses to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. To walk “in the power of the Spirit” like Jesus did means that our flesh no longer gets a vote on our life choices. Instead, we obey God, even while temptation rages. We can even thank God for temptation, because it is an opportunity to say to Jesus, “I love you more.”

 Have you viewed temptation as an opportunity to demonstrate your love for Jesus?

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Think for Yourself

 

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say…?”  Genesis 3:1

Most sin begins with that little question. When we begin to question God’s instruction, we have elevated our opinion to equal status with God. In effect, we become our own gods. By asking that question, we are assuming the right to judge God and His words. Eve’s temptation was not about fruit. It was the same question we all face--Who is my authority? 

Embedded within that question are others: Who gets to define me? Who has the final word on my value and worth? In our hearts, the serpent’s suggestion sounds something like this: "You know what the Bible says, but what do YOU think?" When we entertain that line of thinking, our enemy smiles. We have just taken a giant step in his direction. 

But consider this: Did the serpent have Eve’s best interest in mind? Does he have your best interest in mind? Have you ever considered that your inward challenge to God’s authority did not originate with you? Just like Eve, you know what God said, but you disagree. So you listened to the serpent when he hissed, “Has God really said…?" And you took the fruit. Often what we call “thinking for myself” is nothing more than playing into our enemy’s hands.

What areas of your life are troubled by the words: "Has God really said?” 

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More Than We Can Handle

"God won't give you more than you can handle." 

This phrase is often declared with confidence as though taken directly from scripture. It is intended to reassure those going through tough times. But is it true?

The idea comes from First Corinthians 10:13 which says, "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it." 

Did you see anything in there about hard times? About trials? About suffering or persecution? This verse is talking about temptation. God is promising that every temptation we encounter has been faced before. It is not unique to us, even though in the midst of it we feel as though it is. He is promising that as powerful as the temptation to sin may be in the moment, He is more powerful. If we belong to Him, then His Spirit in us can enable us to overcome that temptation and not give in.

He also promises a way of escape from the relentless obsession that temptation can often be. But notice too, that He does not promise to completely removed the temptation. He will not treat us like babies in a playpen, removing any possibility of us getting into mischief. The power He gives us will enable us to endure the temptation without giving in to it, even while it still taunts us.

Many times we have to face more than we can handle. Life is set up that way. If we could handle it all by ourselves, we wouldn't need God. Sorrows, heartaches, trouble, and disease are often more than we can handle. Life threw us a curve ball and we weren't ready. 

"God won't give you more than you can handle" actually does more to incite anger toward God than to bring comfort. Even as it is being said, our hearts want to scream, "Well, this time it IS more than I can handle!" This catchy phrase portrays God as a trickster who keeps adding burdens to our backs just to see how much we can handle. He gleefully adds one more disaster and steps back to see if we will crack. That is not God.

The true God suffers when we do. He walks with us through the valleys, holds our hand, and whispers His encouragement, "Fear not. I am with you." He knows life is more than we can handle, so He does it with us. And because death is more than any of us can handle, He prepares an eternal home for us and provides the way for us to get there.

Rather than repeat this inaccurate phrase, let's say instead: "I know this feels like more than you can handle, but God is with you. He will strengthen you and comfort you and bring you through it. He cares about you. You can trust Him with this."

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Endure It Until

How blessed is the man who endures temptation! 

When he has passed the test, 

he will receive the victor's crown of life 

that God has promised 

to those who keep on loving him. James 1:12

What does it look like to "endure temptation?" When we think of temptation, we imagine that we are to run from it and it no longer bothers us. We picture a man glancing at a Playboy magazine on the newsstand and turning away. But this verse seems to imply something else.

In order to endure temptation, there must be a relentless desire to act in a way that does not please God. We don't have to endure something that ends in three minutes. A fleeting temptation to sin does not have to be endured, but rejected. Then it's gone. So what kind of temptations must be endured rather than definitively rejected?

The kinds of temptations described in James 1:12 involve our hearts' desires on the deepest level. You cannot escape your heart. You can close your eyes, you can control your hands, you can decide where your feet go. But you cannot do much about the longings of your heart.

I think this verse was written for people such as those with same-sex attraction. Their heart longs for something which God has forbidden, yet the longings don't go away simply because they want them to. A woman caught in a dead marriage may fall in love with another man, but she is not free to pursue that relationship the way she wants to if she desires to honor God more. She may daily surrender her acts and choices to the lordship of Jesus, but her heart still yearns for connection with a man who meets those needs in a way her husband never did. A man saved from alcoholism may fight the urge to drink for the rest of his earthly life. Every day is a battle with himself as he gives in to God's desire for him rather than the longing of his heart. But it doesn't go away. He must endure it.

Is there a temptation in your heart that you must endure? You see no feasible way to escape it except endurance. You can control your choices and your actions, but your heart may still yearn for something or someone that is forbidden. I think that is the kind of endurance James speaks of. God wants to encourage us that He sees when we endure. He is pleased when we continue to wrestle against our heart's deepest longings without giving in. He promises great reward for all of eternity when we choose to be faithful now.

Stay strong. God does not judge you because of the temptation. He understands and He is cheering for your continued endurance. 

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Where is Your Path Leading?

As I was reading in the book of Matthew this week, something new struck me.

We've all heard about Jesus being tempted by Satan and about his 40-day fast, but a little phrase caught my eye that adds a new dimension to it.

Matthew 4:1 says Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit "to be tempted by the devil." I'd never thought about the fact that he went there for that purpose. He knew as he trudged over the rocky crags and left civilization behind that he was about to encounter his archenemy face-to-face. And he had to win or all creation would be condemned forever. Your fate and mine rested in his meeting Evil head-on and finding the power to resist.

Have you ever thought about your challenges that way? Have you ever considered that while you are doing your best to follow the plan of God for your life, that plan may be leading you directly into Satan's path? When we suspect a trap, we usually bolt and run the other way. Surely God would never want us to tread that close to temptation. Or would he?

It's important to note that Jesus didn't seek Satan, didn't tread in his territory, didn't go looking for it, but temptation came to him. And he was prepared. Knowing what was coming, he prepared himself with fasting and prayer.

I've always wondered at that too. He was God's Son, yet even he did not feel adequate to face the ultimate evil without equipping himself with the fullness of God's power.

So why do we do less? Why should we think for a moment that we are any match for temptation on our own? Why do we so arrogantly think we can live the way God wants us to in our own strength? We toss token prayers toward the sky, dutifully run through our list of Christian do's and don'ts, and think we're equipped to resist evil. And Satan laughs.

If we had any inkling of what goes on night and day in the spiritual realm, it would probably terrify us. Maybe we should be terrified. If we saw how much ground we were losing every day to evil without even realizing it, we would be stunned.

But it might change us.

Ponder this today: If the Son of God had to spend 40 days gaining strength to resist Satan, then what are you doing to equip yourself?

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Third Temptation

"The Bible says no one should judge, so who are you to tell me what's right for me?"

"Doesn't the Good Book say God helps those who help themselves?"

"The Bible says we're all God's children..."

Do those sound familiar?

Fallacies fly thick when the self-righteous start trying to quote from a book that wasn't written for them.

They sound spiritual and make the speaker feel Biblically literate. However, they are either outright lies or they are distortions of truth taken out of context. It's an old trick; Satan's been using it for centuries.

His most famous attempt was with Jesus. "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself off this peak. Doesn't your Bible say God won't let anything bad happen to you? Let's see if it's true. Prove it."

There he went again, jabbing at the identity of Christ because he knows if enough doubt is cast, some eventually believe it. Has he been throwing darts at your self-worth? Hinting that not even God could love and forgive you? Have you started to believe it?

When we approach Scripture with the intent of proving our point, we can twist it to say anything we want. You could find enough phrases to prove your point from Moby Dick if that's all you're interested in.

The scary part is that so few who call themselves Believers truly know what the Word of God says. Unless you know God, know what He says and what He doesn't say, you are an easy target for distortion.

Jesus was well-versed in the Book He inspired and knew how to confront error and distortion with Truth. He didn't even rely on His own wit or verbal genius to combat Evil Incarnate. He relied on the truth of God's Word and came back a third time:

"It is written..."

Do you know what God says and what He doesn't say? If the very Son of God had to rely on spoken Scripture to defeat temptation, then how much more do we need to do the same?

Don't wait until you're in the moment. Dig in now. Find out what God really says and what He doesn't say.

When Evil comes at you, will you be ready?


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Second Temptation

Her husband's cancer was back and the bills were mounting. The mortgage company had sent its last notice before foreclosure and now the pink slip lay on her desk. An innocent piece of paper that was surely the last straw.

Why didn't someone shoot her now?

Then her eyes fell on the ledger. Ben, in accounting, had asked her to initial it. Sign off on his deceit. Her percentage of the take would be enough to keep the house. Just a simple matter of a couple of misplaced zeros. A company this size would hardly notice. They certainly hadn't noticed her these past ten years as she slaved away to make them richer.

She fingered the leather book, carefully buried under piles of innocuous documents. It would be so easy. Ben was good. They may never be discovered. Maybe it was the way out. Maybe God had provided the answer through Ben. What choice did she have?

You may never face a choice of that magnitude, but you will certainly face decisions that require the same degree of compromise. When your back is against the wall, you see no escape, and someone offers an easy out, do you have the moral strength to say no?

Jesus was faced with such a temptation when Satan came at him the second time in Luke 4. After Jesus' 40-day fast in the wilderness, He had already resisted Satan's suggestion to turn rocks into bread. Now the beast was at it again. He took Jesus to the highest peak and swept an arm across the valley. In an instant, they could see all the kingdoms of the world.

"This could all be yours," Satan hissed.

The Evil One knew God's plan. The world was about to be purchased out of his grip by the blood of the One he was taunting. If he could entice Jesus to do it his way, the plan would fail and he would be god after all. He must have cackled in anticipation as he watched the struggle on Jesus' face.

Imagine how Jesus felt. He knew the torture and murder he was about to endure. The dread had already begun. He had pleaded with His Father, "Please, if there is some other way..."

Was this another way?

When we read about the temptations of Jesus, we have to remember: these were real temptations. A temptation is an idea that lights a spark deep in our soul suggesting we veer off the course we know is right.

A spark was lit in Jesus. What if he could have everything the Father sent Him to purchase without the agony? What if he could bring His Father all the kingdoms of the world a different way than the way they had planned? He hadn't been human then when they'd planned this thing. It hadn't seemed so horrible when He'd been enthroned in Heaven, praised by angels, and grieving over fallen man. Maybe...

Have you been there? You're wrestling with pain when a compromise appears. Your pain could be alleviated with this little action. A little step this way, a slightly dishonest word, a dalliance on the side and your problems will be solved. Or so you think.

Jesus has been there, too. And He gave us a model to follow.

He knew the path He had chosen in the light and refused to veer from it in the darkness.

"It is written..."

With a look neither to the right nor the left, He gave his answer. He didn't stop to dwell on the magnificence of those kingdoms, the plausibility of Satan's suggestion, or what obedience to His Father would entail.

We get into so much trouble when we pause to think about it.

If compromise is knocking on your door today, do what Jesus did: slam the door.

 

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First Temptation

It was a long time coming, but you did it!

Now you're famished, depleted in both body and soul.

• You've waved goodbye to the FedX man who holds your project.
• You clicked SEND on that 12-page paper.
• The test is over and you did well.

We've all experienced those "Ah-h" moments when we lean back, shut our eyes, and exhale. As tension drains from our bodies, our senses come alive.

"Feed me!"
"Rest me!"
"Entertain me!"

Our flesh wastes no time shouting its demands when it needs something. And we usually waste no time in meeting those demands. However, when those demands are at their peak, Satan usually arrives with enticing options.

"Go ahead and overeat. You earned it."

"Go ahead and call in sick. You deserve the rest."
"Go ahead and click on that porn site, visit the bar, pick up an easy mark. No one will know and you'll feel so much better."

Satan is clever, powerful, and persistent. But he's not very original. He's been using the same lines since the Garden of Eden, and we fall for them over and over again.

We can spot some of his best lines by studying the way he tempted Jesus. I picture him as a greasy used-car salesman.

Jesus had spent 40 days fasting and praying, seeking His Father's will and strength for the battle ahead.

But Satan has no manners. He doesn't respect our intent or needs. He strikes wherever he can--wherever we appear weak.

"Hey, Jesus," he sneered. "IF indeed you are the Son of God..."

I can hear him clear his throat. He may been munching on a hunk of warm bread when he sidled up to Jesus and lowered his voice.

"You know, I'm still not clear on that whole Son of God thing. Here's a good chance for you to prove it to me, once and for all. I know you're hungry. Why don't you do a miracle for me? If you really can, then why don't you turn those rocks into bread? Wow, I'd be impressed!"

Imagine yourself in Jesus' sandals. You're famished. You're not thinking straight. Your body is screaming for food and someone has just suggested a harmless solution. What could it hurt? You can do anything you want and maybe it's time someone set this jerk straight.
 

Have you ever wondered why He didn't do it?

It wasn't a sin. He did miracles like that all the time. So what was wrong with Satan's suggestion? Why was that considered a temptation?

The evil began with the first word: if. Satan was tempting Jesus to doubt His own identity and to verify it by responding to that doubt. If Satan could get Jesus to meet his own physical needs rather than allow His Father to do it, then the rest of us have no hope at all.

He hits us where we are weakest, when our fleshly need is screaming, and he knows it is all we can hear.

"IF you really are a Christian, you can do this little thing to satisfy yourself and God won't love you any less. You can handle it. You deserve it. God will understand."
 
And by the thousands, we fall for it. We decide that God doesn't know what we need, so we have to provide it for ourselves. Any way we can. No harm done, right?

The only solution is to do what Jesus did.It didn't matter that he was hungry, thirsty, and tired. His physical reality did nothing to diminish spiritual truth. He responded with, "It is written..."

He didn't give himself time to consider the suggestion, argue, or discuss options. He showed no concern whatsoever with Satan's slam at his identity. He knew who He was.

And you need to know who you are.

If you've made the Lord Jesus Christ master of your life, then you belong to God and nothing can change that.

God has promised to meet your needs according to His will for you. Anything short of that is compromise with the devil.

When that greasy voice echoes in your ear, remember Jesus. He gave you a model of resistance to remind you that if He can do it, so can you.
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