Devotions from John Ortberg’s book, The Me I Want to Be

Temptation is painful because when we give it to it, it hurts from the inside. Temptation tries to get our appetites and will to override our deepest values.

Temptation promises us freedom, but it makes us a slave. There is always a hook. “Real freedom is not the external freedom to gratify every appetite; it is the internal freedom not to be enslaved by our appetites, to have a place to stand so that we are not mastered by them.”

We don’t face temptation alone and one way of dealing with it is to share our struggle with another person.  We can also ask ourselves, “If I walk down this road, where will it lead in the long run-toward or away from the Me I want to be.”

We need to notice the level of soul satisfaction in our lives.  We become vulnerable to temptation when we are dissatisfied with our lives. If we do not find soul satisfaction in the Lord, we will look for it somewhere else.  It becomes an idol or an addiction. The enemy is also the accuser and may tell us if we have given in to temptation we are beyond redemption. But the Spirit is just the opposite and is always seeking to deliver us from evil and moves us toward forgiveness and healing.

What we really long for is to be loved by and connected to God.  That connection is ours if we want it.