Matthew 7:2 "...with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"Usually people focus in on Matthew 7:1 which is "judge not". However, what I want to focus on is the problem of the person who judges. A "mote" is a "speck" and a "beam" is a squared log which is hewed to a certain size. When one gets a "speck" in their eye it may not be intentional. The wind can deliver that to any person's eye. Temptation is one of those specks. On the other hand a beam is created by work. One takes a natural log, sizes it, planes it and makes it suitable to pleasure.
While the speck may be only a temptation, a beam takes much work. The speck is a planted idea which a person acquires because he is exposed to it, while a beam is weighty. Yes, the beam represents full-blown premeditated sin!
Temptation is not a sin. However, people judge others using the metric of temptation. "Temptation" is the desire to do things of the flesh. While some things of the flesh are distasteful to many, each one of us have our own things with which we struggle.
2 Corinthians 10:3 "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"From this passage it is seen that God can pull down our strongholds. Those "strongholds" are particular sins which Christians struggle to submit to God. It's the things we are tempted with daily and which controls our life. Temptations are our "imaginations"; those things which we "exalt over the things we know to be God's will". Paul had imaginations with which he struggled, and so does everyone else!
Temptation is not sin. If it was Jesus would be a tremendously sinful God because he was tempted by Satan with a lure of power and prestige.
Matthew 4:1 "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil... 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him."Herein we learn much about temptation. Temptations are pleasurable, thus are enticing. Anyone can be tempted for Jesus was! Temptation is always by the devil. God is not a tempter. The person tempted has a choice what to do with the temptation (sin or not sin). And if a person withstands temptation, the devil flees and angels minister. Those who are tempted have not sinned, and those, as did Jesus, who stand upright in temptation are rewarded by the comfort of God's angels.
Now to be honest, Jesus allowed himself to be tested by temptation to demonstrate to us that he knows what it's like to be tempted. Yes, Jesus, being "of the flesh" had desires just as all men do, but because he withstood sin, he unlike us, was never "in the flesh". Being "of the flesh" is God's design, but being "in the flesh" is Satan's lure for us to come stand under his spiritual tree. Being "in the flesh" is serving sin. That Jesus never did, but we do, although, like Jesus, we have a choice.
Should we allow ourselves to be tempted? Is that a wise thing to do? We must remember from the Book Of Job that God allows Satan to toy with us. Satan is never allowed to kill us, but he can wave any temptation which he wants in front of our face; and he does. He even uses others as instruments of temptation. One thing that is noted of Job, though. He never put himself in a position to be tempted, but Satan came to him. Job was beyond reproach. He tread not where devil's walk! The devil came to him from going "to and fro". He came to Job specifically because Job was righteous man!
The devil needs to spend little time with those who are already his. For the best "bang for his buck" Satan goes after those who belong to God, as did Job. Whoever endeavors to live a righteous life WILL BE tempted. Satan even tempted Jesus because he thought Jesus would fall! Therefore, meek "Joe" (the Christians name here) WILL BE tempted by the devil to undermine Jesus. Yes, when the Christian sins, he's not doomed to hell, but Jesus is denigrated. Satan wants you to lose your faith, but even if you don't, by sinning you prop Satan up as Prince in the face of Jesus. And as we know, God is a jealous God!
People look at Christians with a magnifying glass. Even other Christians use a 100X lens to find those specks. Satan wants them to do that! Why? Because if we are looking at another person we fail to examine our own lives. The righteous Christian is tempted and sometimes sins, but those who judge harshly aren't satisfied with finding sin, their high magnification can even detect temptation, and use it against you! Satan delights in our focus on others while ignoring our own logs.
We all go where all "men have gone before us", paraphrasing Star Trek's introduction.
Luke 22:40 "And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation."Since temptations are "tests" of our faith which God allows Satan to administer, we can successfully resist temptation by not exposing ourselves to it. If we pray to God, the devil will flee and his temptations will go with it, just as it did with Jesus!
Matthew 26:41 "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."The righteous desire to remain pure. That's because the Spirit is guiding and directing us. However, at the same time the devil is putting obstacles in our paths. He knows our "kryptonite", what the weakness is which pulls us down. We "enter not into temptation" by not going where temptation is! If we're tempted by alcohol, we don't go around those who imbibe. If we are tempted to steal, we stay away from things which we cannot afford. If lust is a temptation, we stay away from places which encourages that desire. If we have weak faith, we stay away from people who speak smooth words. We have an obligation to stay away from temptation because we don't have the faith of God! We are of little faith, and Satan will test what faith we have!
In summary, never ever judge others by a different metric than that which you would want to be judged. That's not fair, and if you do that, God will judge you by the same metric. Never look at another's temptation and and judge, even while neglecting the rampant sin in your own life. That is a technique of the devil to get you to fall! The Lord Jesus summed this up quite well in his prayer for you:
Matthew 6:14 "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."In the Greek "trespass" in this passage is the "slip" of a person, either accidentally or willful. We are to forgive others their slip because we slip too. The flesh walks on a slippery slope and if we walk on a slope we will fail, just as will anybody else.
Now for confession time: I am tempted. Sometimes I sin. It's not something that I delight in, but do anyhow, in spite of my strong faith. Because I'm not Jesus, and a mere man, I fail, because " the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak". I wish I was always strong, but sometimes I'm not. Others should rebuke me for my sins, but if they rebuke me for my temptations, they need to have a little talk with Jesus, for he too was tempted.
Luke 6:31 "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."(i.e., apply the Golden Rule. That's the fair thing to do!)
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