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Temptation

           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. (I Corinthians 10:13)

 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.  (Genesis 3:6)

Sadly, there’s not much that more basic than temptation. It’s a negative basic, but it may be that the only thing more basic, or more omnipresent, or more omnipotent is God.

If you read through Genesis 3, the serpent’s temptation of Eve involved many factors. The tempter ambushed her. She didn’t see it coming. He asked her questions and called God’s goodness into question, but that doesn’t seem to be what finally tripped her up. It wasn’t so much what the tempter said, but the game show model displaying of the fruit.

I can relate to Eve. The fruit provided the solution to the problem that she was so inferior to God, who was (and is) perfect, glorious, beautiful. Who wouldn’t want to solve the problem if it were so easily solved? If she ate, she’d be worthy of Him. Problem solved! How could He not be pleased with her?

There are probably other types of temptations, but the ones that trip me up all too often are the “problem solved” sort. I’m bored, I’m lonely, I’m frustrated, I’m whatever… shoving food into my mouth solves the problem. There are times when the proposed solution actually does solve a problem. There are other times when it doesn’t. And there are times when the solution causes one or more problems whether or not it solves the first one.

Usually, I agree with the experts that the first step in solving a problem is to define the terms. But if that’s the case, the zeroeth step is to determine that there is actually a problem and to define that problem. For Eve, the problem may have been definitional. She wasn’t “good enough.” Being “like the Most High” seemed to be the solution.

I suspect a lot of my temptations wouldn’t be so tempting if I stopped to think about whether there was a problem, and what the problem really is. God has given us brains to use, so that might just be one of the ways He provides for us to endure temptation.

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