Tempted to Rebel?

Joe Shlabotnik / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

I went to visit one of my dear sisters in Christ the other day and she was telling me about some of her 14-month-old granddaughter’s latest escapades.

One of the stories that stuck out to me was about the time she caught her granddaughter pulling a piece of fuzz from the couch. The little girl mischievously looked over her shoulder to make sure grandma was watching as she slowly inched the foreign object closer to her mouth.

My friend obviously recognized the danger and flew across the room to grab the object out of her granddaughter’s hand before the curious toddler had the chance to eat it.

As I heard this story, it gave me a picture of what we must look like to our Abba Father when we’re getting ready to do something we know we shouldn’t do.

Ever find yourself tempted to sin and sheepishly glance over your shoulder to see if God was watching? C’mon, be honest!

I’ve had moments when I’ve said, “Lord if you don’t do X, then I’ll do YZ.” I know that sounds terrible, but it’s true.

Thankfully, my loving Heavenly Father just lets me vent and then calls my bluff. He knows I don’t really want to willfully walk outside of His plans for my life.

But even when we are tempted to rebel and sin, many times isn’t it because we think God wants to spoil our fun or because we’re not happy with how He’s answering our prayers? In reality, He’s like my friend who wanted to protect her granddaughter from the awful consequences of eating that piece of junk.

God knows how harmful our actions, thoughts, or attitudes can be. That’s why He’ll send us warning signs to stop us from going down certain paths.

I don’t know what you may be struggling with, but if you feel the Holy Spirit convicting you and warning you not to do something please heed His voice. He knows what’s best for you!

Thankfully, when the enemy starts lying to us and tempting us to sin we can:

Resist Him – “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)

Fight Back with Scripture – Jesus was tempted three times while in the wilderness and each time He quoted Scripture. “Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” (Matthew 4:10)

Look for God’s Way Out – “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Confess our Sins and Struggles to Mature Believers – “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16)

Unfortunately, we sin every day though. The Good News is that as Believers we have forgiveness of sin through the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 1:7). When we do sin, we can repent and ask God for forgiveness.  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9)

Isn’t it wonderful to know that God forgives us and loves us unconditionally? That doesn’t give us a license to sin. It does give us the security to know that we can turn to God no matter what!

God will give us the strength to overcome whatever temptations we may be facing! What an Awesome God we serve!

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