” No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able”
Corinthians 10:13
Temptation is a part of this journey, we get tempted every day as we walk our paths, it is when we give in to temptation, especially when we have no clue what exactly is being tempted. Just like anything else along with this journey, there is the good, as well as the bad, and temptation is no different than all else. Sometimes we will get sold into temptation, like a car salesman trying to sell a car, they will suck us into what sounds like a great deal, then, Boom!!! What you have been sucked into buying, becomes part of the other junks within the junkyard for cars. We can get tempted by many things, as well as many others, as they walk their paths of this journey. This goes to show that, when we are troubled and easily intimidated, then yes we can be tempted into things we would not otherwise do, just as Jesus showed us how to resist temptation, we can do it, we just have to stay true to who we are, with complete faith in ourselves as well as Jesus Christ.
Just as there are bad temptations, there are plenty of good temptations and because they bring no pain or hurt, we then don’t acknowledge them as temptation at all. You step out within mother nature, you’re going four-wheeling, or maybe taking to a journey with the kayak? As you set out on that journey, you find many different trails or roads to take, what a choice right? You now become tempted toward one of the trails, simply because it had less twisting and turning along the drive, but as you follow the temptation, and after a day’s journey, you now find out it was a dead-end, and you are now lost? Temptation is just that, it is tempting you to take any action, but before you take that action, you first need to look deeply into that temptation. Now there are good temptations also, but unless you look deeply, you will never know at first glance. Your four-wheeling down this old dirt road, the road comes to a crossroads with zero signage, how do you know where to go, to either get to where you want or to get to that place of beauty within mother nature for a great camping experience? Well if your off-grid the GPS probably will not work? do you have a compass or a map? When there is nothing then look deep down each road, look within the sky of each direction, then trust your gut, as the gut will seldom let you down.
That gut feeling you have deep within? I am willing to bet that it is Jesus, who is always within us, letting us know of which direction to go, so we can get through whatever the temptation, as we keep moving forward as best we can. The problem is, we do not listen to our guts enough, which then has us go within any temptation whether good or bad. There are many temptations out there and most are disguised very well, well enough to fool even the smartest of us, so when we give in to the wrong temptations, we then fall into the shame of the decision and hide it, from all those around us, because we do not want to look as bad as we feel, for making that bad decision, to begin with.
We all have made some bad decisions in our lives, and we will probably make even more before this journey is over? A decision is the first step in the temptations of life, they are like the gateway into the big world of temptations. This is why, before we open those gates, we first have to look deeply into what is within those gates, so we can avoid any bad decisions that may come to us. The temptations through this journey of life are plentiful, so just as we look at our options of anything else along our paths, we also have to look at our options at the temptations, so we can avoid the bad, and stay with the good ones.
As you can see in this picture, a good decision was made, as the temptation to stay straight was there, but as I took a turn to the left, the beauty opened up and gave a great reward to the lake that lies ahead. Now with that good decision away from the temptation, time to go set camp and enjoy the true beauty of mother nature. Does everybody want that perfect campsite? does it really exist? You may find one and call it perfect, but what if you continued and found one even better down that trail you were on? The perfect campsite really does not exist, it is just our own way of personalizing something and hiding away a decision, from one temptation to another. Hm!!! Do I continue straight down this twisting and turning road, or do I turn right and follow this road toward the lake? Two decisions with two very different temptations pulling us, which way do you go? We get pushed and pulled in many different ways on our paths of this journey, but what we take for granted is, it always starts with being tempted toward a temptation, as we then make a decision into that temptation we chose. Never be tempted into the wrong decision within any temptation, always look deeply into that Abyss, look deeply into the perception of all temptations, then think through your actions, so you can walk your paths with less resistance, throughout this journey of life, as you strive for the peace and love within and gain the trust of all that may be around.
” There are many temptations that will tempt us in many ways, but a good decision will help bring us to the good and away from the bad”
” Look deeply into the abyss of all the tempted temptations, to make a more informed and well thought out decision always”
