Let’s talk about temptation.
Temptation gets a lot of press in the bible. It’s mentioned a good deal. And we talk about it a lot in our daily lives too. Everywhere you turn it seems there are things that tempt us. You might know of the famous marshmallow test experiment done at Stanford University in the 1960s. In it children were recruited to test their willpower (and to see if that had anything to do with their success later in life). A single marshmallow was put in front of a child with no others present. The child could choose to eat the marshmallow or he or she could wait until an adult came back into the room. If the child was able to wait (usually about 15 minutes) the reward was two marshmallows. The test was simple. Do I give myself one marshmallow now, or do I delay and get double the marshmallows later?
Would you have passed this test as a child? Would you pass it now? And no fair saying you don’t like marshmallows. If you want to test yourself in this way then put something you love to eat in front of you.
This is what temptation is really all about, isn’t it? It is the desire to give yourself a short term treat at the expense of a long term gain. Giving into temptation means you get something now, but this often ruins a better result down the road.
Let’s look at some examples of this in scripture. The first that comes to mind is at the beginning: Eve and the serpent.
Genesis 3: 1-7
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
There is another popular story of temptation in the New Testament: the temptation of Jesus. Jesus was tempted three times. Here is one of them.
Luke 4:1-4
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”
Have you ever compared these two stories? Both of them happen at a beginning. The first at the beginning of humanity, and the second at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Eve was tempted with a desire to be like God. Jesus was tempted with a human desire. But these temptations are really tricky, and also downright wrong. Eve soon learned that you can’t become like God by disobeying what God says. And Jesus understood that fulfilling a human desire to eat was not nearly as important as a spiritual desire to prepare for his ministry. What would have happened in the story with Eve had she shunned the serpent? She and Adam would have had life. They failed that test but Jesus passed his in order to bring that life back.
Short term gains vs. long term results.
King David was tempted with Beersheba. Failing that test had dire consequences.
In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the older son is tempted too. His short term gain was his early inheritance, spending it without a care in the world. The long term suffered though, and it was only due to the amazing forgiveness of his father that he was able to recover.
So what tempts us?
Food is one thing. Fast food is everywhere. It is cheap. We don’t have to prepare it or clean up after ourselves too much, and it tastes good. But eat too much of it and your health suffers.
Finances are another thing that offer up temptations. Buy things now, advertisements say, and get a loan if you have to. Long term thinking counters this with saving for retirement and other big ticket items and investing to build wealth.
What can we do in the face of all of this temptation? We take the long term view. We remind ourselves that there are better rewards waiting for us. We become mindful of the fact that we are being tempted. Scripture backs up the idea that delayed gratification is a lifesaving thing.
Take the long view, and reap the rewards that come with it.
God Bless