Part IV: Crossroads Of The Heart
Henry Ward Beecher once said, “All men are tempted. There is no man that lives that can’t be broken down, provided it is the right temptation, put in the right spot.” Temptation can only solicit us to evil, yet it is the evil desires in the soulish area of our hearts, which cause us to take the bait. James 1:14 says that we are carried away and enticed by our own lust. The Greek word for lust here is epithumia. It is defined as the active and individual desire resulting in pathos a Greek word meaning the diseased condition of the soul. You see, we all have areas in our soulish realm that have been damaged by our individual sin and the sin inflicted upon us by others. If these areas go without being healed, then when the right circumstances arise as a result of temptation, we will be led away by them and taken captive.
Take for instance a young girl or boy who may have been damaged in their souls through the molestation of a relative or stranger. When that child reaches puberty and the right circumstances arise, that child will have a much stronger bent towards sexual sin, because of the diseased condition within the soul. A person who was raised in a home with arguing and yelling is going to have a stronger bent towards the sin of anger. It is statistically proven that those who grow up in the home of an alcoholic will have a higher likelihood of also becoming one. Not every person will have the same disease within their souls; however every soul born into Adam’s race has been affected by evil desires.
If we refuse to deal with our ungodly lust, then they will take us into slavery. I find this is the main reason so many believers’ live unfruitful lives and are still dominated by sin. When we refuse to deal with the evil desires in the soulish areas of our hearts it causes us to turn away from God.
I would have to say that if anyone knew about the depths of a backslidden heart, it would have to be Solomon. He instructed us in Proverbs 14:14 that “the backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways.” I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be filled with my own ways.
It was Solomon who also said, “there is a way that seems right to a man but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 16:25). It may seem appropriate to party with your co-workers after work in a place where there is adult entertainment and open sexual sin. You reason to yourself, “It’s not like I party all the time. I just need to let my hair down.” The path of least resistance may feel like the right thing to do at the moment; however it is a slippery slope that you cannot be assured to be able to climb back up. The famous last words are, “I thought I could handle just one night” or “I was only going to do it once.”
Paul the apostle in writing to the church in Rome said that when we give ourselves to sin, we become its slave. Although sin is not supposed to be our master it still can be. If we begin to serve sin, we will pay the price for that servitude. If we refuse to listen to wisdom then it leads to a life of slavery. If we begin to see our lives dominated by sin, then it is time to make a radical cut. As disciples, we have been called to live a life dominated by the Spirit God, not by slavery of our ungodly desires.
Many people are confused about the difference between temptation and testing as to their source. James 1:13 says “let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.’” Temptation comes from this present world order in opposition to God and those powers of darkness dominating it, which entice the lust of our flesh. However, in the midst of every temptation, God is also testing you. As long as we are in this world we are going to go through the wilderness of temptation. We need to view temptations as an opportunity to see any area in our hearts, which need to be given over completely to Him. It is in the midst of every temptation that the Holy Spirit is reminding us of what God has said to us, through His word and if we will use the word of God as a sharp sword, we can overcome any temptation.
Proverbs 8:1-2 is what I call the ‘Crossroads of the Heart’. Here, we see wisdom calling out where the paths meet. In life, our paths will meet with temptation. Practically everyday of your life, you will have choices to make; to listen to wisdom or your own fleshly desires. I Corinthians 10:13 tells us “no temptation has come your way that is too hard for flesh and blood to bear. God can be trusted to not allow you to suffer any temptation beyond your powers of endurance. He will see to it that every temptation has its way out, so that it will be possible for you to bear it“ (J.B. Phillips). At first glance, this text would seem to say that it is God who is doing the tempting. However, it simply says that we cannot be tempted to do evil with anything, which God has not provided a way of escape for through Jesus Christ.
We have to make that decision daily to choose to take up our cross by identifying completely with Christ. It is the only way of escape and pathway to live victoriously. In my next post I will get into how we handle our short comings for those times when we choose our way instead of God’s way of the cross.
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