Is It a Sin to be Tempted?

No growing Christian in the world can be unconcerned about the traumatic problem of temptation. There is no age level when moral choices and struggles of the spirit do not confront us. Temptation may attack at different points on different issues, but it will always be with us as long as we are in the flesh.

When I was a boy back in North Carolina, we could always tell when the fruit was ripe out in the orchards. A certain gang of neighborhood boys would head in that direction, and everyone would say, “It must be that time again.” Now, devils are smarter than teenage boys, and as long as the fruit of your life is sour and immature, they may leave you strictly alone. But when that fruit is ripe, all the demons may suddenly appear to try to steal it away from you.

This means that the most spiritual people are the most likely to face the most severe temptations. They have something that Satan would like to spoil or destroy.

Does this mean that it is an honor to be especially tempted by the devil? Perhaps so. In a way it is a compliment to have thieves try to break into your house. It shows that you at least have the reputation for having money. And when the demons come around, even though it’s a battle, you may know that the Lord is still working in your life.

Now we are prepared to look at one of the most astounding texts in the entire Bible. “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations” (James 1:2). Apparently, the Bible writers were also convinced that temptation can be a good thing. Yet, the thought is in total conflict with all the painful human experiences we have suffered in meeting temptation. Most people consider it to be a necessary evil, downright destructive in its influence.

We certainly need to understand that there are some redeeming features about temptation. First of all, it proves that we have moral insight. No one can be tempted unless there are meaningful choices to be made. Issues of right and wrong must be clearly distinguished. People who see everything in the moral realm as a kind of dull gray cannot pass through any great battles of the mind.

One must have a special consciousness of good and evil in order to be tempted. Many modern religionists seem to have only small, average consciences, which may account for the lack of spiritual conflict. What a contrast to the great characters of the past who seem to have had dramatic hand-to-hand combat with the devil. Martin Luther’s confrontation with Satan was so real that he is reported to have thrown an inkwell at his tormentor.

You are to be congratulated, then, if you find yourself tempted. It certainly implies that you are seeing the issues correctly. But now comes the most crucial question: After we recognize the true situation before us, how do we find the power to choose the good over the evil? Paul sensed the urgency of this question when he wrote his first letter to the Corinthian church. No one could have been faced with more obvious choices than those few Christian citizens of Corinth. The pagan world of the flesh stood out in vivid contrast to the self-denying lifestyle of their new found faith. There was no question with them about right and wrong, and Paul wrote: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

This verse contains a wealth of inspired encouragement for anyone who is struggling against a recognized evil. The apostle warned against making an exception of ourselves. It is so easy for us to feel that no one else has ever had to face the enemy in the same way that we have to. Our burden appears heavier and our battle seems more severe than any which others have experienced. Paul said that this is simply not true, and we must not allow ourselves to think it for a moment. This is old stuff. No matter what we suffer, the very same temptation has come upon a million others long before we were born.

How very much we like to consider our situation different from all others! This provides a very clever rationalization just in case we lose the battle and yield to the temptation. If our case is so different, God cannot judge us as strictly as others who have a much easier test. The businessman consoles himself that cheating on taxes is not usually the right thing to do, but he has suffered more shoplifting losses than anyone else. And besides that, he has been more discriminated against by government bureaucrats.

The philandering husband argues, “My problem is unique. My wife is cold and unresponsive, and no one understands the pressures I am under.”

Mark it down: Almost every sin will be prefaced by these words—“I’m an exception.” We must constantly remind ourselves that this has been the psychology of Satan for six thousand years. All he tried to do in the wilderness of temptation was to convince Jesus that He was different. Every one of the three approaches Satan used was based on the idea that as the Son of God, He could do things that no one else could do—turn stones into bread or jump off the pinnacle without being hurt.