3 Things to do When Struck With Temptation
A few days ago I left work frustrated and upset about a few things. My blood pressure was climbing as I marched out to my car and slammed on the gas. I needed to get away and wrestle through some of the frustration. As I drove up Coit Road towards my house, I started to think through some of the ways I could quickly fix my anger problems and resolve some of the emotional angst.
"If I only had a bag of M&M’s. Or maybe a donut. Or maybe some ice cream."
I needed something to make me feel better about the situation.
We all have something we run to when our emotions run amok. What is for you? When life is out of control, what do you do to try and gain back some control? Is it drinking? Or porn? Or working longer hours to impress others?
For me, I usually turn to food. When life becomes hard to manage, I run to food to ease the pain. I find this to be especially true in high stress seasons of life. As a result, I find myself (at times) stressed, emotional and looking for something outside of Jesus to bring me life and to ease the stress. Enter food.
Tuesday morning in Join The Journey, we read Matthew 26:36-46. This is the famous passage where Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane with His 11 disciples (this was after Judas had left them: 12-1=11). Jesus knew what was coming ahead for Him and that He needed some time to pray and be with the Father. He grabbed the three disciples He was probably most close with, and asked them to stand watch with Him and to pray. Three times Jesus prayed, and three times the disciples failed to watch and pray, choosing instead to sleep.
Garden of Gethsemane
I’m sure they were tired. It had been a crazy week for the disciples. In this passage, Jesus talks about the importance of watching and praying when temptation is around the corner. He knew that as much as the disciples needed sleep, they needed prayer even more.
So what do you do when you are stressed and you find yourself tempted to sin? Jesus instructs in this passage to:
1. Stand Watch. In other words, know the signs you need to watch our for when you are in a season of struggle. I know when I am stressed out, I have to watch out for a few ‘signs’: irritated more easily, insecure, filled with comparison, bitter instead of joyful. And the telltale sign for me is that I want to isolate and exclude others from entering in to my temptation.
2. Pray. What else would I do in the face of temptation? It’s the easiest thing for us to do, because it requires nothing of us other than a few minutes of time. It doesn’t cost us anything, we can pray whenever and wherever we want, and it shows that we are dependent on God to help us when we are weakest. If dependence is the goal, then weakness is the advantage, and seasons of weakness force us to either do things on our own or to depend upon the Lord.
3. Invite others in. In our sin, we tend to isolate, whereas we need the exact opposite in moments of struggle. He who walks with the wise, grows wise. And the companion of fools will suffer harm (Proverbs 13:20). I want to be surrounded by others who are wise, who know me and who care about me. When I am faced with temptation, when I know the signs and when I have prayed, I need to involve others and ask for them to help me, hold me accountable and pray for me. It is not good for man (and woman) to be alone. God never intended for us to isolate, and He knows when we are tempted, we need to bring others in to our struggles.
Fortunately for us, even though His disciples failed to stand by Jesus in His greatest moments of struggle and trial, Jesus did not fail. He did what He needed to do, and in the process leaves us with the perfect example to follow when we are faced with temptation: know the signs, pray and invite others in.
Here are a few other posts I wrote in the past on temptation:
Your Turn:
What are some of the biggest trials/struggles/addictions you face?
How do you deal with those trials/addictions?
Do you know what signs to watch for in the middle of trials?
Do you pray when the flesh is weak and you find yourself tempted?
Do you invite others into your struggles for accountability and community?