Mere Cognition

We are constantly surrounded by various forms of temptation that pick and nag at us. It can take the form of the inescapably obvious, stealthily insidious, or anywhere in between. What do we mean by temptation, though? One of the sometimes frustrating things about the English language is its sheer number of synonyms and vague definitions. Therefore, we must do a little bit of a study of terms to understand what we mean.

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines temptation (n.) as,

The act of tempting or the state of being tempted, especially to evil.

This apparent circular definition requires us to dig further, down to the verb to tempt - to entice to do wrong by promise of pleasure or gain; to induce to do something; to try presumptuously. The adjective form, tempting, is defined as having an appeal.

Looking at some of the synonyms, we see words like enticement, allurement, seduce, lure, and beguile. We can see the connotations when we look at some of the definitions of other terms - "arousing strong attraction or interest"; "having strongly attractive or enticing quality"; "to lead by deception". Obviously, the verb to tempt and the noun temptation are clearly meant to have a negative connotation by modern renderings.

The word temptation goes back though English and Anglo-French to Latin roots in words similar to temptatio, translated as "enticement to sin." Temptatio roots itself in the verb temptare, "to try" as in, "to try out" or "to attack", though the latter is more forceful and less accurate a translation. It seems that even as we go back towards the genesis of the word, we're still brought back to the concept of being enticed by sin.

Sin and Submission

At its core, sin can be very simply considered as disobedience and lack of submission to God's way due to unbelief. We can follow this along the logical route to recognize that it is from a desire to go our own way in life because we think, "I know best, therefore I don't need some God character", even if it's not a conscious consideration. Through the sin of Adam in the garden of Eden, we continue to have desires to live our lives with lack of submission to the Lord. Especially given the contemporary culture that western society lives in, this can be easily overlooked due to self-sufficiency being so heavily ingrained in the worldview of the zeitgeist.

When we do not have our lives aligned properly within the hierarchy of authority of a Christian worldview, challenges to the manifestation of this rudderless autonomy often come out as two core emotions: anger and shame. While God is not the one doing the tempting, He does permit temptation to happen, for purposes that aren't always clear to us. Our hearts on this side of Glory will always desire sinful things to some extend, and the machinations of the enemy will always seek to lure you into these desires by tempting you with things that you want, deep down in your heart.

Innate Reactivity to Baggage

Anger and shame are the ways that we most often react to our desires being challenged. These don't necessarily have to manifest due to sinful reasons; for example, I often get from "very irritated" to "downright vicious" whenever I am accused of (or implied) something I have not done. While the impulse to correct is not necessarily a bad thing, getting angry over it is a sinful action borne of an intense emotional response of indignation. It took me a very long time of introspective analysis to determine that this comes from an ingrained feeling of shame instilled in me in childhood. It's simple enough to understand but complex enough to be far too long to delve into here.

We all have these types of baggage that we carry around, whether we realize it or not. Sometimes, we are smart or wise enough to recognize certain items in the baggage and we are able to address them, resolve the issues, and place that item in the waste bin where it belongs. Other times, we carry deep-rooted items buried in the baggage and end up carrying them all our lives. Christians must realize that the exhortation for fellowship with believers, fervent study in the word, and trusting in the teaching and promises of God all help us to recognize our need for a savior. Even when we're down in a hole and feeling smaller than an ant, God is with us, even if we do not realize it.

To Whom We Must Lean On

God allows things in our lives, for seasons both short and long, as a reminder of who we are and who He is. These seasons of temptation, trial, and suffering all work to remind us how much we need Him. In John 16 when Jesus is comforting the disciples, he reminds us that,

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

Whenever you are feeling weak or depressed, that is often the most obvious sign that we need to seek the Lord most fervently. One way to do this may be looking at it from a different angle: instead of wallowing in self-pity or giving in to that strong sinful desire, instead look at this as a teaching moment; an opportunity to turn to and trust Him as He instructs you through experience and trial. This way, you accomplish multiple things. The temptation teaches you that you are not, in fact, God; that you must rely on God's strength, especially when your own is insufficient; thereby giving you an opportunity to display His might and power through your trials and your weaknesses. In fact, our reactions to temptation are almost never our own; we eventually will give in given enough persistence. Instead, it's God's strength that we must rely on to help push us through.

In God's economy, everything seems upside down and backwards. I've come to call this phenomenon "the inverting principle of truth". The first shall be last, the last shall be first. The strongest, in worldly terms, shall end up weaker than even the weakest. The meek (that willfully submit to the Lord) shall inherit the earth, not those that strive to subjugate all under their will. From the worldly perspective, everything seems backwards. However, it can be evidenced even in the fact that some unbelievers wish to try to better this world through serving others and philanthropy. The core principles are there within our nature as we are image bearers, yet the wages of sin from the fall mar these attempts without trust in the Lord.

George Orwell, in the novel 1984, had his dystopian government embrace this slogan:

War is peace.

Freedom is slavery.

Ignorance is strength.

When looking at this from a Biblical lens, we can begin to easily see the perversion of this inversion principle in practice. When we put ourselves above God, we can do nothing but craft a crude mockery of the Lord's will and purpose. We must turn away from this and forever remind ourselves that our strength is not our own.

Within the Proverbs, we can find many points of instruction, reproof, exhortation, and application. In Proverbs 6, Solomon addresses the sluggard - one who lives in careless idleness and does little.

6 Go to the ant, O sluggard;
    consider her ways, and be wise.
7 Without having any chief,
    officer, or ruler,
8 she prepares her bread in summer
    and gathers her food in harvest.
9 How long will you lie there, O sluggard?
    When will you arise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest,
11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want like an armed man.

Once again, I go to Matthew Henry for commentary:

By way of instruction, v6-8. He sends him to school, for sluggards must be schooled. He is to take him to school himself, for, if the scholar will take no pains, the master must take the more; the sluggard is not willing to come to school to him (dreaming scholars will never love wakeful teachers) and therefore he has found him out another school, as low as he can desire. Observe,

1. The master he is sent to school to: Go to the ant, to the bee, so the Septuagint. Man is taught more than the beasts of the earth, and made wiser that the fowls of heaven, and yet is so degenerated that he may learn wisdom from the meanest insects and be shamed by them. When we observe the wonderful sagacities of the inferior creatures we must not only give glory to the God of nature, who has made them thus strangely, but receive instruction to ourselves; by spiritualizing common things, we may make the things of God both easy and ready to us, and converse with them daily.

2. The application of mind that is required in order to learn of this master: Consider her ways. The sluggard is so because he does not consider; nor shall we ever learn to any purpose, either by the word or the works of God, unless we set ourselves to consider. Particularly, if we would imitate others in that which is good, we must consider their ways, diligently observe what they do, that we may do likewise.

3. The lesson that is to be learned. In general, learn wisdom, consider, and be wise; that is the thing we are to aim at in all our learning, not only to be knowing, but to be wise. In particular, learn to provide meat in summer; that is, (1.) We must prepare for hereafter, and not mind the present time only, not eat up all, and lay up nothing, but in gathering time treasure up for a spending time. Thus provident we must be in our worldly affairs, not with an anxious care, but with a prudent foresight; lay in for winter, for straits and wants that may happen, and for old age; much more in the affairs of our souls. We must provide meat and food, that which is substantial and will stand us in stead, and which we shall most need. In the enjoyment of the means of grace provide for the want of them, in life for death, in time for eternity; in the state of probation and preparation we must provide for the state of retribution. (2.) We must take pains, and labour in our business, yea, though we labour under inconveniences. Even in summer, when the weather is hot, the ant is busy in gathering food and laying it up, and does not indulge her ease, nor take her pleasure, as the grasshopper, that sings and sports in the summer and then perishes in the winter. The ants help one another; if one have a grain of corn too big for her to carry home, her neighbours will come in to her assistance. (3.) We must improve opportunities, we must gather when it is to be had, as the ant does in summer and harvest, in the proper time. It is our wisdom to improve the season while that favours us, because that may be done then which cannot be done at all, or not so well done, at another time. Walk while you have the light.

4. The advantages which we have of learning this lesson above what the ant has, which will aggravate our slothfulness and neglect if we idle away our time. She has no guides, overseers, and rulers, but does it of herself, following the instinct of nature; the more shame for us who do not in like manner follow the dictates of our own reason and conscience, though besides them we have parents, masters, ministers, magistrates, to put us in mind of our duty, to check us for the neglect of it, to quicken us to it, to direct us in it, and to call us to an account about it. The greater helps we have for working out our salvation the more inexcusable shall we be if we neglect it.