From the Heart of Pastor Deb

DECEPTION THROUGH TEMPTATION

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TEMPTATION: Enticement;  Allurement;  Lure;  Seduction

DECEPTION:    The act of deceiving;  something that deceives;  a trick
             (To DECEIVE: To ENSNARE;  to cause to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid)

This morning as I was doing my devotional study, the author had written about TEMPTATION.  Believe me, I know about temptation.  This is something I have struggled with ever since I began learning right from wrong – a very young age, I might add.  Anyway, as I read, the author made a statement in her book that triggered something in my brain.  I found myself looking at TEMPTATION in a totally different light.   I began looking at it as it truly is – DECEPTION ON A GRAND SCALE.

As I look back over my life, and even now as a matter of fact, TEMPTATION always had an appeal.  As the definition above states, TEMPTATION was enticing, alluring, something to draw me in – not harmful at all.  Is this not what occurred to our dear mother Eve?  Excerpts of Genesis 3 describes the enticement, the deception:  vs. 5-6, “…eyes will be opened … will be like God, knowing good and evil … good for food … delight to the eyes … desirable to make one wise … “ The allurement handed her was much too great to remember the insignificant command of God concerning the Tree in the middle of the garden, “You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.”  Vs. 3. 

Of course, God’s Word is the one that won out – it always will.  I have found in my walk (even before knowing Christ) that the true DECEPTION of TEMPTATION is to cause me to believe that what I am being tempted with will be good, feel good, do good to me.  I already know in my heart that it is wrong.  The Spirit of the Living God immediately begins prompting me to walk away from such devious drawing.  Oh, but the DECEPTION – it is covered with a mantel of roses, sprayed with a luscious scent of vanilla, brilliant in its design of pastels and patterns.  How could anything that looks (and sounds) so beautiful be harmful to me?  The trap is set; the spring is ready to snap, just waiting for me to step into its grip.  Once I fall prey to such an illusion, it is too late – I HAVE BEEN DECEIVED!  How often have I justified a lie, believing that it was the best thing to do at the time?  However, as soon as the lie was spoken, the beautiful mantel fell away from my eyes and all that was left was the cutting teeth of the trap gripping me tight and the truth (consequence) of that lie was able to be seen.  How often have I spoken about someone (gossip) rationalizing that “my friend really needs to know what it going on.”  Only to find that as soon as I spoke the “truth” (as I called it,) I would witness an immediate change of the other person’s opinion of the one I was talking about.  How often had I cheated on something I was trying to accomplish, only to find that the cheating robbed me of the very fulfillment I sought?

How can one avoid such trickery, such cunningness?  The more I have read, studied, pondered upon the Word of God, I found His Word to be the only truth, the only plumb-line in my life.  TEMPTATION – if what I am hearing, feeling, sensing, does not line up with the truth of the Word, I walk away.  IT IS NOT EASY!  And I will not say that I always succeed.  There are still times when I must fall on my face before God and ask forgiveness for falling “again” into the DECEPTION THROUGH TEMPTATION.   We do have a forgiving God, praise His name, however, each fall brings me closer to NOT falling again.  I must look at the deception; I must see the temptation for what it is – a tool of the Devil to keep me from walking in Christ; an implement of Satan to keep me from being a witness to Christ’s greatness;  a device of using my life to be a reproach to my Lord.

I have learned through all my times of falling into deception that my Lord’s Word is true beyond all else.  No matter how bleak, no matter how difficult, no matter how impossible a situation my look, I have learned NOT toke situations into my own hands and fall into the DECEPTION OF TEMPTATION.  I have learned to lean on the Word of my God and stand under His protection.  I pray not to fall prey to the DECEPTION.  As the Lord taught us to pray, let us say, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”  Matthew 6:13.

Lord, open my eyes to the deception, to the lie.  Let me be alert to temptation when it is present and give me the strength to run away and run to You in all circumstances.  I love You, Lord.

Reflect upon: Genesis 3:1-19;   Matthew 26:41;   Luke 22:46;   1 Corinthians 10:13;   James 1:12;   Galatians 6:7-9;   Titus 3:3;