Overcoming temptation

“The factors affecting urban development”. Enter.

Those were the words George typed into a search engine. He had been researching some concepts for his Urban Planning course. As he continued working on his assignment, a pop-up appeared on the website. He looked at the pop-up image for a few seconds and clicked on it. The image took him through various links and he finally landed on a web page filled with pornographic contents.

He felt a tingling sensation in his chest and knew he should get off the website. “Let me quickly check this short video and I’ll be off”, he thought to himself. After watching the ten minutes clip, he reluctantly left. He could not shake off what he had seen from his mind. He felt really terrible and kept whispering, “Oh Lord, I am sorry!”.

For the next few days, George struggled to compose his thoughts and feelings.

About two weeks later, he boarded a bus to school. He scanned the bus and found an empty seat near one of the windows. A young man was already seated on one of the two seats, so George sat next to him. The young man briefly looked up and smiled at him, while he seemed to quickly cover his phone with a face towel.

Few minutes later, George casually glanced at his seatmate and discovered he was watching pornography on his phone. George did not look away. He kept watching until the young man got off the bus.  When he arrived home that evening, he could not resist the urge to visit the pornographic site again. This time, it became easier and he did not feel that tingling sensation he felt the very first time. This was how George became trapped in the web of pornography.

We all face our share of temptation from time to time. It is not a sin to face temptation. It becomes a sin when we give in to the temptation.

“Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death” (James 1:12-15).

Each time we give in to temptation, we become spiritually weak. If left unchecked, we eventually lose the sensitivity of our conscience. We begin to excuse and normalize sin. What usually makes our heart skip no longer does and sinful activities are no longer seen as a big deal.

“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:12-14).