Is There Good in Temptation?

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man . . . —1 Corinthians 10:13

The word temptation has come to mean something bad to us today, but we tend to use the word in the wrong way. Temptation itself is not sin; it is something we are bound to face simply by virtue of being human. Not to be tempted would mean that we were already so shameful that we would be beneath contempt. Yet many of us suffer from temptations we should never have to suffer, simply because we have refused to allow God to lift us to a higher level where we would face temptations of another kind.

A person’s inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the true nature of the person being tempted and reveals the possibilities of his nature. Every person actually determines or sets the level of his own temptation, because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature.

Temptation comes to me, suggesting a possible shortcut to the realization of my highest goal— it does not direct me toward what I understand to be evil, but toward what I understand to be good. Temptation is something that confuses me for a while, and I don’t know whether something is right or wrong. When I yield to it, I have made lust a god, and the temptation itself becomes the proof that it was only my own fear that prevented me from falling into the sin earlier.

Temptation is not something we can escape; in fact, it is essential to the well-rounded life of a person. Beware of thinking that you are tempted as no one else–what you go through is the common inheritance of the human race, not something that no one has ever before endured. God does not save us from temptations–He sustains us in the midst of them (see Hebrews 2:18 and Hebrews 4:15-16).

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試探何益？

你們所遇見的試探，無非是人所能受的。 （林前十13）

[試探]一詞地位日益低落，我們很容易把這詞錯用。試探並非等於罪。凡是人，都會遇到試探。若說不會受試探，實在是自貶身價。不過，許多人所受的試探，本是不該受的。這完全是由於我們不肯讓神領我們到一個更高的境地，去面對另一種試探的緣故。

人內在的性向，就是他人的性格，決定他外在所受的試探。所受的試探是配合受試探者的本質，同時也顯出他的潛能。每一個人都有他獨特受試探的背景，試探也會沿著他主要的性向而來。

試探為人所要實現的最高目標，提供了一條捷徑－－並不是我走向邪惡，乃是朝著我認為善的方向走。試探是一些令我一時感到困惑的東西，因我不知它到底是對還是錯。向試探低頭，就是奉情慾為神；也證明過去不是沒有犯這罪，只是不敢做出來。

試探是無可避免的，對一個人的完整生命是不可或缺的。別以為從沒有人像你一樣，受到這樣的試探；你所經歷的，其實是整個人類共有的經歷，並非前所未有。神不會救我們離開試探，他乃是在試探當中救拔我們（來二18）。

祈禱◆噢，主啊，我們對你的認知，被即時的現況所堵塞，產生了窒息的感覺；求你拯救和悅納我們。