Tag: Temptation

Digging in Deeper: 1 Corinthians 10:13

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“No temptation has come upon you except what is common to humanity. But God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation he will also provide a way out so that you may be able to bear it.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

Nobody’s going to know. It’ll just be this one time. Just this and then that’s it. There’s no other way to get through this. I’m all alone in this. There isn’t anyone who can help. This is just more than I can handle. Which line have you used or had used on you before in a moment of temptation? There are all kinds of lines designed to drag you into sin, but all of them are rooted in lies. Paul identifies three particularly common lines for us here. Let’s take a look at these. 

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Digging in Deeper: Genesis 3:2-3

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“The woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, “You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.”’”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

How do you resist temptation? What are your strategies? Are there any routines that help you do it? Do you have certain things you say, perhaps a mantra of some kind? The fact is, you do face it. We all face it. We’ve all faced it since Eve here took the initial shot to the heart. Succumbing to it obviously isn’t the best plan, but if we don’t have another one better, that’s usually what’s going to happen. What do we do? 

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Digging in Deeper: Genesis 3:1b

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“He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, “You can’t eat from any tree in the garden”?’”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter) 

When was the last time you were tempted to do something you shouldn’t have wanted to do? Unless you happen to be reading this just after waking up, I suspect it wasn’t all that long ago. Temptation is everywhere. “Being tempted” is part of our cultural lingo. We talk about being tempted to do this or that freely and easily. Not with things we really think are bad, mind you, but the language is common all the same. It’s like temptation is just a joke. If it is, though, it isn’t a good joke. 

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Morning Musing: Genesis 3:1a

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“Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman…” (CSB – Read the chapter)

So far in the creation story things have been at least believable. I mean, depending on where you stand on the existence of the supernatural it may sound pretty far-fetched, but if there is a God powerful enough to create the world and everything in it, it’s conceivable at least that He spoke it into existence. We can even get our minds around the more intimate picture of the creation of the man and the woman in chapter 2. This, however, is where things run off the rails.

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Digging in Deeper: Genesis 2:16-17

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“And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.’”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

This morning we wrestled a bit with the question of why God would have put a tree in the garden of Eden and then immediately told us not to eat from it. I let you in then on a secret about that question: The most honest answer is, “I don’t know.” But, I don’t know isn’t very satisfying and I did promise you two answers.

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