Have you ever questioned your thoughts?
As an example, you have an anxious thought about something.
Do you examine it and try to find its origin?
Recently, I was a part of a campfire discussion on the devil.
Whether or not he influences our thoughts.
I disagreed because I don’t think the devil has access to our minds.
I did some research and I couldn’t find Scripture supporting that theory.
However, it made me think.
Every time I have a lustful thought or any other thought that’s not righteous, I simply ask, is the devil tempting me?
It’s been an interesting thought exercise.
It makes me reexamine the thought or thoughts, and it quickly disperses them.
For whatever reason, my life path has been on the straight and narrow.
It could be because of the Bible readings as a child.
Every night we would have Bible reading and family prayer.
My parents would read Proverbs according to the day.
Or perhaps it’s because I was dedicated as a child to God.
Now I certainly have had my vices in my life.
Some of them are slowly dying like logging onto JOI or smoking cigars.
I don’t do those vices as much as I used to.
One day they’ll be nonexistent.
But for now, they linger.
I used to be so hard on myself.
That’s probably because I grew up in a church that was hyper-sensitive to secular culture and was in a leadership program since my freshman year of high school.
My probity was instilled in me since I was young and as a youth.
I’ve been taught to walk a virtuous life, but I have not been always virtuous.
I used to hate myself because I wasn’t perfect.
I heard the Gospel my entire life and made a declaration to follow Christ when I was 16 after serving on a mission trip to Mexico.
For me to live is Christ and to die is gain was my mantra.
I felt that if I didn’t act on my habits of lust then I’d be righteous.
I held my sexuality as evil.
The flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life.
Taken from Google, according to the Bible, in 1 John 2:16, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" refers to:
Lust of the flesh: Physical desires and cravings for sensual gratification, like sexual immorality.
Lust of the eyes: Coveting material possessions or desiring things based on their appearance, essentially greed driven by what you see.
Pride of life: A sense of self-importance, arrogance, and boasting about one's achievements or status, often stemming from worldly possessions or accomplishments.
Key point: This verse states that these desires are not from God, but from the world.
It seems like a war is between those who chose to follow Christ and the things of the world.
There have been times when I tried to abandon my faith.
I wasn’t too fond of the culture of Christianity and didn’t like being in it.
Three years ago I made an attempt on my life because I wanted to give up and let go.
I was so frustrated because I constantly failed to meet my standards of righteousness.
Again, I was being too hard on myself.
As I write this, I am reminded that God is not wanting perfection, but a person who has faith in His perfection and power.
He wants me to rest and to be filled with His love.
As I am filled with His love, my behavior changes.
I have a purpose even though I may not see it.
I can rest in peace and mercy knowing He is the one who says it is finished.
There’s a lot of wisdom to be drawn from the Bible about this subject of the origin of temptation to sin. I’ve been meditating on the sinlessness of Jesus Christ. He was the sinless Lamb of God, holy and blameless, unstained by sin (Hebrews 7:26). I think it’s hard for us in our sin to understand how Christ, Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead he gave up his divine privileges, he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross (Phillipians 2:6-8). He became a human being the scripture does not say that he gave up being God, He is Emanuel God with us. In the Book of Matthew Chapter 4 we read, “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil”.(vs. 1) That’s where we understand the concept of the devil being called the tempter. But Jesus could not be tempted to sin. Because “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempts he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed”. (James 1:13-14) Jesus could not be enticed to sin because Jesus is God. So where does that leave us? “As it is written there is none righteous, no not one:” For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”. (Romans 3:10,23) “Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. for God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.” (Romans 3:24-25a) Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith”. (Romans 3:27) “For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.” (Galatians 5:6) We love Him because He first loved us.