Temptations of the World

Hello friend,

If you were to ask me what one of my deepest concerns for this world is, I would say that it is the temptations that we give into on a daily basis. As humans we have flesh, and that flesh is what influences us to give into the temptations that we are faced with all too often. Mark 14:38 says “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” There is a lot of confusion in the Christian church today, many claim that we can give into these sins and still go to heaven. But what do the scriptures say?  1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. But is it wrong to hang out with these kinds of people? Well, James 4:4 clearly says “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." These verses make it so clear, yet people somehow still seem confused. The Bible states that if we trust in Christ that we are saved. Does this mean that we can still commit these sins and go to heaven? If we are caught up in any of these sins, then we won’t go to heaven. Being caught up in a sin shows that you have not truly retained the word of God. If you sin on occasion, don’t be worried, you will still go to heaven, but that doesn’t mean that we should do it just for this reason.

You have to admit, God has a lot of patience with us, and we should be grateful for that. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” Whenever you get temped with something, pray about it, and turn away from it. Yes, the flesh will always attempt to hold us back, and sometimes it will have the upper hand, but as long as we fight it and strive to be better, then we can’t go wrong.

In Christ,

Noah Brewster