Tag: temptation

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Bible Insights

Submit to God and Resist the Devil

Submit to God

James Offers a Solution to Those Who Face Disappointment with Their Life

I like the words of James in the Bible. His concise writing packs a lot of practical teaching into five succinct chapters. In chapter four he opens with a string of negative outcomes that often plague people.

He lists fights, quarrels, envy, covetousness, and the kicker of all disappointments: unanswered prayers. Ouch.

Why do we suffer from such things? The cause is spiritual adultery, of being so friendly with worldly pursuits that we become estranged from God. Double ouch. God wants our full attention, undivided.

What’s the solution? James’s two-part answer, both direct and succinct, says to submit to God and resist the devil. But are these dual initiatives for us to pursue or opposite sides of the same coin? By submitting to God do we automatically become empowered to resist evil?

Perhaps by turning our back to sin, we effectively submit to God. Yet it matters not if we resist first, submit first, or do both. The main thrust of James’s instruction is to effectively focus our actions on God and turn from worldly pursuits.

Submission is not a popular concept in today’s society. Neither is resisting temptation. With our self-sufficient, do-it-myself mindset, no one wants to acquiesce to another, to defer our desires to another person’s wellbeing.

Yet the Bible teaches us to do just that. James says to submit to God. So does Job (Job 22:21), as well as the wisdom literature (Psalms 81:11 and Proverbs 3:6).

Plus Peter tells us to submit to the elders (1 Peter 5:5), and Paul teaches us to submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21) and to authorities (Romans 13:5). And there is more.

How do we do this submitting to God and resisting the devil? James says we need to be close to God, wash our hands (figuratively speaking), purify our hearts, repent (grieve, mourn, and wail), and humbly approach God. Then he will lift us up.

Implicitly our disagreements will cease, our materialism will end, and we will enjoy answered prayer. It starts when we submit to God and resist temptation.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is James 4-5, and today’s post is on James 4:1-10.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

Three Things to Remember About Temptation

Temptation101

In Three Things About Sin, the prescription for sin is to deal with the temptation before it gives way to sin. It’s like getting a vaccine; preparing now to avoid a bigger problem later.

The Bible teaches us three things about temptation; they’re in the form of promises that we can claim and rely on.

1. Our Temptations Are Not Unique to Us

Others have struggled with the same issues in the past.

2. God Will Limit Temptation to What We Can Handle

God doesn’t tempt us and he does limit the enemy’s power to do so.

3. God Will Provide a Way Out

We can ask God to enable us to see the way out, give us the will to take it, and the strength to persevere.

And then we can withstand the temptation—just as he promised.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is 1 Corinthians 8-10, and today’s post is on 1 Corinthians 10:13.]

Read more in Peter’s book, Love is Patient (book 7 in the Dear Theophilus series).

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Christian Living

Don’t Judge Jesus By His Church or Its Clergy

spiritual leaders

Our Spiritual Leaders May Fail Us and Let Us Down but Jesus Never Will

Relevant magazine cited a Gallup poll that revealed America’s trust in the clergy has hit a record low. And it’s fallen steadily since 2002. In the early 80s two thirds of people respected spiritual leaders. Now only a bit more than one third (37 percent) do.

Though the clergy appears above the midpoint on the list, they’re still far from the top. Nurses hold the top spot at 84 percent, with the bottom slot going to members of Congress at 8 percent.

I mourn this decline in the standing of our clergy.

If there’s anyone we should be able to trust, it’s our spiritual leaders. Yet trust must be earned. And once it’s earned, it must be maintained. As a group, today’s clergy isn’t doing enough to maintain trust.

I won’t name names or mention specific organizations. I’m sure you can quickly make a list. It saddens me that most everyone can site a religious leader who has let them down through their moral failings or ethical lapses.

Standards for Clergy

Although the clergy are human and subject to temptation just like everyone, they must rise above their human failings. Because of their influence, they will be held to a higher standard (James 3:1). Yet they don’t always do this.

And when they falter, everyone knows it. Their sins are (eventually) broadcast for all to see (Luke 8:17).

They must be an example for us to follow, not to avoid. Paul got this. He urged people to follow him, in the same way he followed Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:1). That should be the standard for every leader in Jesus’s church

However, we shouldn’t judge Jesus by the shortcomings of our religious leaders. We shouldn’t turn our back on God and reject him, just because some of his representatives failed us and disappointed us.

Our spiritual leaders may falter and let us down, but we must remember that Jesus never will, and Father God never will either (Deuteronomy 31:6).

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

Know the Bible: Is Studying and Memorizing the Bible Important?

It's important that we know the Bible

When Satan Tempts Jesus, Jesus Responds by Quoting Scripture

Satan was unsuccessful in preventing Jesus’s birth and he was unsuccessful in causing Jesus to die prematurely before he could start his mission. For the enemy’s next ploy to thwart God’s plan to reconcile us to him, Satan tries to tempt Jesus into taking a shortcut: an easy button, if you will.

Satan makes three attempts to stop Jesus and to each one, Jesus counters by quoting the Bible. Jesus doesn’t try to ignore Satan. He doesn’t tell him to go away. And he doesn’t simply say “No” (all things I have tried).

Jesus responds to each of Satan’s attacks by throwing the words of God back at the devil. Touché.

This may be the biggest and best reason to study and memorize the Bible, to hide God’s word in our heart so that we can avoid sin. But don’t take my word for it. The Bible says it, too: Psalm 119:11.

However, there’s another significant lesson we can learn from this passage. In his third try, Satan uses the Bible to attack Jesus. Though Satan’s application is arguably misapplied, the fact that the devil quotes the Bible gives his attack an unexpected credibility.

If Satan uses the Bible to oppose Jesus, he’ll certainly try the same trick with us. The only way we will prevail is if we know the Bible, too, and can point out his error. When misapplied the Bible can mislead us. Not everyone or every spirit quoting scripture does so with integrity.

We must know the Bible as well as, or even better than, our enemy.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Luke 4-6, and today’s post is on Luke 4:3-12.]

Read more about the book of Luke in That You May Know: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, now available in e-book, paperback, and hardcover.

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Christian Living

Three Things to Know About Sin

KNOW ABOUT SIN

The book of Genesis in the Bible gives a concise three-point teaching about sin. This was written about Cain, but equally applies to us.

1. Sin Is Crouching at Our Door

The word “crouch” reminds me of a cat getting ready to pounce on its prey. The situation is ominous.

2. Sin Desires to Have Us

Once the cat leaps for its quarry, there’s little doubt over the outcome. Sin is crouching for us; it is getting ready to leap and destroy us. There’s little we can do—or is there?

3. We Must Master It

Sin is much easier to master beforehand rather than in the midst of it. When it is crouching, the potential for sin is there, but it’s not actual sin; it’s temptation. We know what to do with temptation and the devil who promotes it; we are to resist.

[Genesis 4:7, James 4:7]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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Bible Insights

Responding to Temptation

Responding to Temptation

The Bible says that when we are tempted to do wrong, God will provide a way out so that we can avoid it. That is an encouraging promise, but does that really mean that every time—or just some of the time?

I think it is every time—really, I do.

The challenge is to be able to recognize the alternative and then to go down that path as soon as we see it. So, in anticipation of this, I ask God to give me the eyes to see the way out that he will provide—and then to have the will to take it.

In that way, with his help, we can stand up under the temptation—just as the Bible promises.

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is 1 Corinthians 11-13, and today’s post is on 1 Corinthians 12:13.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.