temptation

Posts Tagged ‘temptation’

Dead Men Walking

Posted in christian living, tagged Christ, Christ follower, crucified, follower, grace, law, overcome, sinful nature, temptation on May 8, 2014| 3 Comments »

Colossians 3:5, 9-11 Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry…Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him, a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all…

As followers of Christ, our old nature has been killed and buried. We are new creatures in Christ. We no longer have to serve sin because Christ has set us free.

Our old sinful nature was crucified with Christ. It was dead and buried and now a new, holy and righteous creature has risen and is alive in Christ.

We have Christ living in us and we can rely on His power to overcome temptation by His strength. Because of Him we can live a life free from the guilt and punishment of sin. The sinful nature is still in the ground and a new person now lives as one with God. He put His Spirit within us and made us His dwelling place.

When God looks at us, He sees His child that has been changed by the grace of Christ. We are now holy and righteous in His sight. Not because of anything we have done, but because of the work Christ did. We no longer have to work to earn salvation. After accepting the grace of God, we no longer have to strive to keep the law. The law was good in that it was a tutor to lead us to Christ. The law was fulfilled by Christ and now that we are His, we live by faith in the grace He provided.

In Christ, we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. There is no upper level or lower level child of God. The is no Jew or Greek, male or female, clergy or laity. Each one of us make up an equally important and functioning part of the body. We are all saved by grace and living under the headship of Christ. Christ is our all in all.

May we continue to grow in Grace and let Him have the preeminence.

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Jesus was Tempted Too

Posted in christian living, tagged Christianity, Jesus, religion, sin, temptation on November 16, 2012| 1 Comment »

Jesus was tempted just like each one of us. The only difference is He did not give in to the temptation.

We tend to think about Jesus being above humanity while He lived on earth. He lived a perfect life while here, but we usually say He did this because He was God and above being tempted.

We are told in the Bible that Jesus was actually tempted in ALL things just as we are today. He was completely human and was tempted just like us. This goes to show that temptation is not a sin, but we sin when we give in to the temptation.

Jesus had such a close and intimate fellowship with His Father, that he was able to overcome all temptation and live a perfect life. Because He did this, it made Him worthy to be the perfect sacrifice for us.

Because we lost the relationship and intimate fellowship with God through the fall of Adam, we were unable to live up to the Law of the Old Testament.

Jesus fulfilled the Law. He died to take away our sins and destroy the Old Covenant. He then rose from the dead and thereby began the New Covenant of living by grace.

All of us who accept His sacrifice are now living in grace, God’s perfect gift of salvation, and we are seen as perfect and righteous in His sight because of that gift.

Our old sin nature is dead and buried, and we have been raised up as new creatures in Christ. We now have the power to overcome those temptations when they come, and to live a life pleasing to God. None of this was accomplished by our own strength or works. It is the gift of God through Christ.

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Posted in christian living, tagged freedom, religion, salvation, sin, temptation on April 3, 2012| Leave a Comment »

2 Peter 2:9 – then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation…

We all are bothered by temptation every day of our lives. No matter if we have been saved for years, or have just come to know God, temptation is always knocking at our door.

When we were saved by grace, our spirit was made new. Our spirit is now holy, righteous and perfect in God’s sight. Our body and mind are in a continual process of regeneration and sanctification. As we grow in Christ, read His words and allow the spirit to transform us, we grow and become more like Christ and more like our new spirit.

Remember, temptation is not a sin. God has given us the power to overcome the temptation and He always provides a way of escape.

When Jesus lived on earth, He also was tempted. Because of this, He knows how we feel. He knows the pressures we deal with and He knows how to help us through those temptations. He knows how to rescue us.

When temptation hits us, rather than trying to overcome it in our own way, we need to focus on Christ and depend on Him to provide us the strength to overcome. Only by grace and the strength we get from Christ can we overcome and live a life of victory.