Did God really Say? | Temptations

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During this time of the year, we get to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus. He died for our sins to reconcile us back to God. We can not begin to imagine the magnitude of Jesus' sacrifice from the night of his arrest to the moment of his death. This sacrifice brings us to true repentance, which is asking for forgiveness and turning away from that sin.

However, we see that from the garden of Eden, sin is not always that straightforward. We hate to undermine Jesus' sacrifice at the cross by continuing to sin, yet we find ourselves in sin over and over again. We often look back and wonder, How did I even get here?

Today I am excited to share one of the best ways to deal with sin, among other different ways like prayer, accountability, and the word of God. This way is: Change the temptation into words that you fully understand.

As I sought employment in an unfamiliar field some time back, a friend shared a few tips on how to make my CV outstanding, among which she mentioned verbiage to simply mean: carefully choose the words you use and which part of your experience to draw the reader's attention to. 

When you look at the conversation between Eve and the serpent in the garden of Eden, you realize that the devil chose his words carefully.  When he throws temptation to us, we need to change his words into words that we understand better.

 "You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

-Genesis 3:4-5

The question here was not, "Did God really say that you shouldn't eat of the tree?", as the serpent phrased it, the actual question (according to my wording) was, "Do you trust your God? Do you trust that He is not hiding anything good from you?" If the serpent had asked Eve this question directly, Eve would have clearly known what the devil's intentions were.

"It's okay to take a bribe, everyone does it. Plus, you need that extra ka-money." the devil might say. Yet at the core of this, he is actually asking, "Do you believe the Bible you read? Do you believe that God will take care of you as He promised?"

Image from tbsnews.net

God asks you to do something but you know your pastor, leader, papa, father, mother, or friends will quarrel. The devil will say, "Do you want to annoy your friends?" yet he is really asking, "Do you prioritize your friends more than God?"

Be it with our temptations to have sex before marriage. Your emotions don't give you a break, and many people say you have to try it to see if it will work, yet the actual temptation is, "Do you trust God with your emotions and your future? Do you believe that he will give you over and above the best spouse you have ever thought of?"

Any temptation you might list is always stated in the devil's language, emphasizing the areas he wants you to pay attention to, and one of the things that can help is to try and ask yourself, what exactly is this temptation asking?

A happy birthday to me, an amazing Wednesday indeed.

I trust you had a lovely Easter weekend.

Till next Wednesday.