Mark Twain once quipped, "I can resist anything except temptation." You wouldn't likely echo his assessment but you likely have said something like, "I just can't help..." or "I've just got to have..." The smell of Cinnabon in the mall, the "if you call right now" of QVC, the bling-bling in the jewelry counter, that porn site you stumbled on to that keeps calling you back, something, several things, temptation calls and you find it very difficult to hang up.
Twain's tongue in cheek was not totally without merit. We only find ourselves failing to resist those things, which are truly a temptation. At times we may feel like throwing up our hands and just admit that we lack the discipline or the resolve to resist - after all, we're only human, we're not saints.
Actually, we are "sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people" (1 Cor 1:2). And, we are empowered to resist temptation: "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." (1 Cor 10:13).
While we have and will fail at times due to our human condition, we do have the power to overcome. In the words of Huey Lewis and the News, "It's the power of love." Consider how one rebuffs the advances of an attractive stranger because of their love for their spouse. One faced with the purchase of the car of his dreams walks away because the child he loves needs braces.
As a Christian, any time I am faced with the temptation to do something immoral, illegal or unethical, I need only remember how much Jesus loves me and I him to empower me to reconsider and turn away realizing the hurt my sin would bring to my Lord. It's not just WWJD - what would Jesus do? When we love him, we ask, WWIJ - what would injure Jesus? Our love for him will compel us to turn away from sin and his Spirit within can give us the power to resist. Love overpowers temptation. Jus' Sayn.
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