When I am Tempted

William Barclay shares some observations on temptation while looking at the temptation of Jesus recorded in Matthew 4.

"Just as metal has to be tested far beyond  any stress and strain that it will ever be called upon to bear, before it can be used for any useful purpose, so a man has to be tested before God can use him for His purposes.  The Jews had a saying, 'The Holy One, Blessed be His Name, does not elevate a man to dignity till He has first tried and searched him; and if he stands in temptation, then He raises him to dignity.'

"Now here is a great and uplifting truth.  What we call temptation is not meant to make us sin; it is meant to enable us to  conquer sin.  It is not meant to make us bad, it is meant to make us good.  It is not meant to weaken us, it is  meant to make us emerge stronger and finer and purer from the ordeal. Temptation is not the penalty of being a man, temptation is the glory of  being a man.  It is the test which comes to a man whom God wishes to use"  (Barclay, Matthew, vol. I, pp. 55-56).

Barclay describes temptation as "an inner struggle.  It is through our inmost thoughts and desires that the tempter comes to us.  His attack is launched in our own minds.  It is true that the attack can be so real that we almost see the devil.  To this day you see the ink-stain on the wall of Luther's room in the Castle of the Wartburg in Germany; Luther caused that ink-stain by throwing his ink-pot at the devil as he tempted him.  But the very power of the devil lies in the fact that he breaches our defenses and attacks us from within.  He finds his allies and his weapons in our own inmost thoughts and desires" (p. 58).

Barclay is right in His emphasis of God working purpose in allowing these attacks of temptation and testing in our lives.  No weightlifter ever becomes strong without lifting weights.  Opposition is essential for strength.

Barclay reiterates the truth of James 1:13-15.  "When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.' For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."

However, a qualifier must be made here.  The Son of God, faced with temptation, knew nothing of sinful motivations or desires.  He wanted to do the will of the Father.  However, his constitutional fears and incarnate flesh--human--included fear, the desire to avoid pain, and the desire to complete the Father's will.  

The enemy attacked our Lord Jesus to satisfy legitimate desires through illegitimate means.  Attacks will come to you similarly.  Remember, it is no sin to be tempted.  Sin takes place when I yield to temptation.

I pray that God will help you to endure the tests, trials, and temptations of life you face today, and to emerge victorious.