ODJ: temptations we face

October 23, 2014 

READ: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand (v.13).

This is the last snack I’m going to eat today, you tell yourself. Then 5 minutes later you’re looking for another one! Michael Moss, in his book Salt Sugar Fat, reveals how food companies study ways to ‘help’ people crave junk food. Some of the food industry’s biggest names hire ‘crave consultants’ to determine people’s ‘bliss points’—the conditions when food companies can optimise consumers’ cravings. One popular company spends millions every year to determine the bliss points of consumers.

Just as there are crave consultants who can cause us to long for junk food, there’s a spiritual ‘crave consultant’ studying believers in Jesus—trying to direct, shape and distort their desires towards things that aren’t good for spiritual health (1 Corinthians 10:6). His name is Satan.

Satan is the chief force behind temptations that believers face. He tempted Adam and Eve to crave independence from God and incited them to shatter the peace they had in Eden (Genesis 3:1). He encouraged David to crave power by relying more on military capabilities than trusting the power of God (1 Chronicles 21:1). If believers don’t nurture intimacy in their marriages, Satan encourages them to crave satisfaction outside the marital union (1 Corinthians 7:5). He’s the world’s most cunning crave consultant, using money, power, lust and pride to entice believers to reach the bliss point of sin and spiritual bondage.

We can resist Satan’s overtures by memorising God’s Word (Matthew 4:4), watching and praying (26:41), remembering that God is faithful and believing that He will deliver us from temptation. Our God will never allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). —Marvin Williams

365-day plan› Acts 10:1-23