Fighting Temptation

“Fighting Temptation”

By

Elder Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

INTRODUCTION:

There is an old saying that goes “Opportunity knocks once, but temptation beats on the door everyday.” What a true statement, for we live our lives constantly surrounded by temptations. There is no place on earth that we are able to go and escape temptations.

David said in Psalms 139 “whither shall I go or whither shall I flee thy presence. If I ascend into heaven thou art there: If I make my bed in hell thou art there, if I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea thou art there”. We know that David was speaking here of the Spirit of God, but the same can also be said about temptation because the starting point of temptation is within our desires and since our desires are a part of our make up wherever we go temptation follows.

Understand that man is a “Trichotomy”, a 3 fold being, he consist of Body, Soul, and Spirit. Within the Bible the number 3 speaks of solidity, it represents fullness. Fullness is not lacking any essentials, it is being at the highest or greatest degree possible. The number 3 represents the 3 manifestations of God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, which is the fullness of the Godhead. Man is made in the image and likeness of God representing the fullness or the Trichotomy of man, which is body, soul, and spirit.

The Body, Soul, and Spirit of man coexist together and compose the make up of man; however, each one is its own different entity. The purpose of the body is to house the Spirit and Soul of man. The spirit and soul are housed in the body, but are not the material of the body, nor are they mortal like the body. The soul and spirit design the plans and purpose and the body executes what the spirit and soul has designed. The soul is the crux of all emotions, passions, desires, appetites, and it exercises mental faculties. The soul is the element that makes us cognizant of self and fashions our personality. The soul presses to achieve, social acceptance, personal gratification, and maintain a certain image. It diligently and meticulously strives for prosperity and popularity, trying to reach often-unattainable expectations.

The soul of man is comprised of three components, Will, Intellect, and Emotion. Our intellect is the ability to have thoughts, reasoning, knowledge, and wisdom. We are taught how to reason, our knowledge of different subjects are taught to us down through the years. We attend school in order to gain knowledge and wisdom in order to work and function in everyday life. We read the Bible to obtain Biblical knowledge of the things of God. We are capable of thinking and rationalizing any situation that may come our way; this is all part of our intellect. The Bible says in Proverbs 23: 7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:” what we believe in our minds, what we allow to determine our intellectual make up will personify itself through the actions that our bodies carry out.

Our emotions are what determine our likes and dislikes and makes us act the way that we do. There are times we are happy and times we are sad, these are our emotions. Emotions are influenced by the worldly desires of the flesh. The outside forces that we are faced with everyday determine the emotion that we will show. Our emotions are influenced by many different situations (temptations) in our every day life and these influences (temptations) will cause us to react in various ways depending on what has final control of the soul. If we allow the body to be in control, then our will, intellect, and emotions, are determined by the (temptations) desires. If the spirit is in control then we will strive to do those things which are pleasing to God and not the flesh. Therefore due to our make up and the lack of control of our thoughts and outside forces no-one is immune to temptations. The apostles faced temptations, the patriarchs of old faced temptations, and Jesus Christ himself had to face temptations. The Bible says in Hebrews 4:15 “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”

Since Jesus and the apostles were tempted we must expect to be tempted as well. The Bible says in 1st Corinthians 10:13 “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able to ; but will with every temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” So we clearly see that it is inevitable that temptation will come but Jesus gives the perfect example of how to handle temptation and that is without sin.