The blessing of temptation

Regarding blessings and temptations this is the common belief:

Blessings lead me to God

Temptation leads me to sin

Therefore blessing is good and temptation is bad

They are seen as pathways that lead either to sin or to God

The picture below describes what I am talking about

I want to push back against this view.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good….”   (Romans 8:28)

“All things” would include blessings, but it would also include temptation.  God can and does use temptation for our good.  But we cannot go as far as saying God is the tempter.

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himiself tempts no one.” (James 1:13)

So how are we to understand and deal with temptation?  Let’s look at when Jesus was tempted in Matthew 4 and then we will make a few observations.

“And the tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’  But he [Jesus] answered, ‘It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’  (Matthew 4:3-4)

The other two instances that follow are very similar in nature so we will just use this portion of the text to pull out a few observations.

1) Temptation is not sin

• If we as Christ followers immidiately experience guilt and shame over a thought that pops in our head and feel defeated, we have lost the fight before it started.  This is exactly what the Enemy wants, so don’t do it!  Jesus was tempted, and we know that he was without sin.  Therefore it is possible to wrestle with temptation and not sin.  As my pastor says, “Our problem is not that we struggle with sin, it is that we do not struggle enough!”  (Ray Ortlund)

2) Jesus confronted the tempter/temptation

• Another thing I want to point out is that Jesus does not bury his head in the sand when the tempter comes.  He squares up to the Enemy and addresses him.  A lot of times I notice that I treat temptation like an old aquantaince I don’t want to talk to.  I guess my thought is if I don’t ever look directly at it, it will go away.  On the contrary, this is a kill or be killed situation.

“But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  Then desire when it has conceived give birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings for death.” (James 1:14-15)

3) Jesus persistantly fights with the Sword

• Jesus doesn’t fight out of his own will power.  He draws from Scripture.  This is extremely helpful for us.  We need to realize we do not have to will ourselves to not sin, but instead should run to God and his Word to draw strength.  Even though the Enemy came at him three times, Jesus consistently confronted the tempter and turned to Scripture.  This is the life of a Christian.  Constantly squaring up to the temptation and drawing on God’s Word for our ammunition.

4) This temptation was an opportunity for intimacy with God

• This brings us back to what I talked about at the beginning.  It is extremely unhelpful for us to view temptation/frustration/struggle as an indication that we are far from God.  This is not at all the case.  My argument is that we need to view temptation and blessing not as pathways that will inevitably lead us either toward God or toward sin.  But rather that they are both an opportunity (a fork in the road if you will) for intimacy with God or for turning from God.  Blessing can be an opportunity that leads us away from God if we turn from him and believe that the blessing is a result of our hard work and don’t thank Him for it.   Conversely temptation can lead us toward intimacy with God if we run to God and Scripture and wrestle with the strength of God against the Enemy.  I think in those moments can be found some of the sweetest times with our Father.  I’m thinking the picture should look more like this: