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Sep 08, 2025 06:00am

Temptation Looks Good… Until It Doesn’t

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Him: “You know you’re not supposed to.”

Me: “But it’s so good.”

Him: “You’re going to regret it.”

Me: “Maybe this time, it will be fine.”

Him: “It never is.”

Me: “I can handle it.”

Him: “You have other choices. Don’t do it.”

I stood there, faced with a decision. Temptation staring me in the face, calling to me, luring me. Even though I knew the consequences. I knew the pain it would cause. I knew what could happen. But there was something within me that was willing to risk it.

I was drawn to it.
I needed it.
Well, really, I just wanted it.

The temptation was strong. Would it overtake me? Or would my self-control win this battle? Part of my mind was telling me to run from this, but the other part was calling me to give in.

But within all the temptation, I realized I had a choice.

“I’ll take a scoop of the sorbet.”

A smile spread across my husband’s face. “I’m proud of you.”

Here’s the deal. I love ice cream, but it does not love me. It’s so tempting! But if I fall into that, if I allow myself to give in to this weakness, I will regret it. It makes me sick and within minutes I’ll be telling my husband, “Don’t ever let me do that again. If I ever say I want ice cream, you must tell me no!”

1 Corinthians 10:13 “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”

Temptations are real. Not just for ice cream. I used ice cream as my example because, let’s be honest, the other stuff, it’s hard to talk about. But it’s real. Real, raw, lustful temptations are everywhere we look. The temptation to steal something that isn’t yours, pulling up pornographic video while no one is watching, returning a flirty moment with a co-worker, altering the numbers so it looks like you’re actually doing better than you are at work, joining in on a conversation because it’s got all the juicy details about someone you just don’t like, or just having one drink with a friend after years of sobriety. It’s all temptation.
Moments that offer opportunities to choose our own desire over what God says is right or wrong.

Paul reminded the believers in Corinth that they had a choice. No matter what temptation came their way they could know:

that all people are tempted, you’re not alone

Yes, temptation can be resisted—others have, and you can too.

How? Because God always makes a way.

He gives us the power over those temptations. He offers a way out. But the choice is ours to make.

And when we choose to give in to that temptation, friend, let me tell you this: there is forgiveness from the Father. Jesus offers grace. We don’t deserve it.

But once we make the choice to give in to that temptation, the consequences of giving in don’t go away. It gets harder and harder to resist. Others are hurt by our reckless decisions. We get careless and eventually, the truth will come out.

Wherever you find yourself today, God has made a way out for you. It may not be the way you desire it, it may not look pretty, but there is a way out. Choose to follow Christ.

Let me show you. Go to follow.lifeword.org and learn about what it means to follow Christ every day. And now in Spanish at follow.lifeword.org/Spanish.