Resisting Our Little Devil

When I stop to think about the topic of temptation, the first thing I think of is Donald Duck. There are some famous Donald cartoons when he is tempted to do something. What happens is a small version of Donald wearing a devil costume, appears on his shoulder. Then eventually a small version of Donald wearing an angel costume appears on the other shoulder. Ah, this is the temptation moment, which side does Donald give into?

Sometimes when I find myself tempted by things, I feel like the same thing is happening in my head. There is a little Cameron wearing a devil costume on one shoulder and another little Cameron wearing an angel costume on the other. Which side is Cameron going to give into?

Temptation is funny (not funny, "ha, ha," but funny interesting). Here's why, even the best of us, when we're tempted end up falling into sin (except one, The Best, but I'll get to that later). And it's not just the things that are impulsive, the things we react to. I sometimes catch myself planning to sin: like wanting to see a movie I shouldn't, or thinking of a mean joke or prank I could pull on someone, or (when I was younger) planning on disobeying my parents.

Satan uses a wide variety of schemes to tempt us, both internally (in our minds) and externally (through other people and outside factors) to try to get us to sin. Sometimes we give in and sin, and other times we are able to resist the temptation. There was one guy who was able to resist all temptation. He never sinned, even at His physically and emotionally lowest point. Join us tomorrow night as we continue to explore this topic of temptation. We'll figure out the schemes that Satan uses to tempt us. Finally, we'll look to Jesus, at His life when He was tempted and find out how He resisted temptation and how we can too.