Our journey towards following and imitating Christ in our everyday life is a never-ending struggle between our choice of good or evil. Christian life will always be full of tests and trials making our faith hard to keep. Much to that can be attributed to the alluring and tempting offers of the modern world . The world has offered much wordly values that sometimes we are tempted to trade off our moral and spiritual beliefs . Things that are taboo such as premarital sex, same-sex marriages, abortion, etc. are increasing gaining widespread acceptance and slowly becoming part of social norms. The world is selling sex like a prime commodity. And sadly, teenagers are struggling to keep pure because to have sex is to be "in" and "cool". Standing up for Jesus seems a difficult choice than blending in. The world has offered distorted and decaying standards that if we let it that way, no wonder our children will soon compromise their faith just to go with the flow. No doubt, we find it a hard endeavor to be holy in an unholy world.
I am not saying I am a holy person and was never been tempted all my life. Nobody is exempted from temptations. Not even Jesus. I was tempted twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. Like most people, I struggled in my faith because resisting the devil and standing up for Jesus seemed a difficult decision to make. I failed a lot in my Christian walk.
Three years ago, I came to understand how unmature my faith was. When I was still in college, I went to confession as often as I can and expressed before GOD (through the priest) my desire not to offend Him again. But I guessed at that time, I did not have a clear understanding of what I am doing because after confession, I committed the same mistakes again and again. It has become a cycle of habit. There is no real resolution to sin no more. I am just wasting my time. And worst, I am abusing God's mercy.
After all the temptations that I've gone through, I've learned to be sensitive to temptations. Although sometimes I failed in my resistance to evil, one good aftermath is I found the way to combat the devouring lure of the evil. I've learned that THE BEST WAY TO FIGHT TEMPATIONS IS FLIGHT. Stay away from people, occassions or places that will lead you to sin. FLY AWAY in other words.
Second, you have to equip yourself with a lot of prayer to combat temptations. You should not believe you can do it alone. Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 14:38 ,"Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
Fighting tempation is not our battle - its a battle between God and the Devil. It's a battle within that you cannot handle without God's mighty help. But the good news is - Jesus already won the battle when He died on the cross. Remind yourself often that victory is yours and defeat is for the Devil.
Third, Jesus showed us how to respond when temptation comes. In the Bible, He was tempted in every way yet He did not sin. The devil offered Him everything yet He was so strong that not even any of these tempting offers could move Him.
May we all learn from JESUS Himself.
Let us fix our eyes on HIM and learn to emulate from His example. Let us continue fixing our eyes on JESUS because when we do, there will be no space for the devil. As written in the Bible, "Resist the Devil and he will flee from you."
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