Lead Us Not into Temptation

This post was written by Bessie Wilson.

As Christians, we can say with the Scriptures that temptation is something that our Lord
provided for. He did so in the Lord’s prayer. “Lead us not into temptation, but
deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13). Prayer accompanied by our obedience will
keep us out of a lot of areas of temptation that some of us are fooling around
with.

“These six things doth
the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying
tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, an heart that deviseth wicked
imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that
speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren” (Prov. 6:16-19 KJV).

A proud look.
The NIV renders this “haughty eyes.” In Japanese, it’s taki-buri, which
is “high-nosed.” Are ever you tempted to have a high nose? A haughtiness because
of your hometown, your college, your forebears, or your race? If you have this
proud look, somewhere along the line there was a temptation you did not resist.

A lying tongue.
This one is repeated in the list; the second-to-last is “a false witness who
pours out lies.” How many lies are told among the Christian community! And not
just little white lies, but big prevarications. You can lie about where you’re
supposed to be, where you have been, about your responsibilities. You can lie
about other people and destroy someone’s reputation in so doing.

The temptation to lie
comes to all of us. Do you have to teach a child how to lie? No. You have to
teach him how to tell the truth. Lying comes naturally; it takes the new birth
to cure you. But just as a Christian can be tempted to adultery or fornication,
you can be tempted to lie.

When he was in the
navy, my husband once told a lie to a senior officer on board a destroyer. As
soon as he told it, the officer knew he had lied. The man asked him a second
time if he had done the task he’d been commanded to do, and Jim lied a second
time and told him it was done. Then he went away and tried to get victory by
reciting his memory verses and singing hymns. He didn’t get any victory until
he went back to his commanding officer and admitted that he had lied.

Lies can be forgiven,
but the habit of having a lying tongue is the deadliest thing I know. If you
are convicted about it, seek out spiritual help for it. I know people who lied
so consistently that I could never tell when they were telling the truth. The
funny thing about lying is that you can do it so long and so well that even you
end up convinced that it’s truth—“deceived and being deceived” (2 Tim. 3:3).

Hands that shed
innocent blood. This includes abortion.

A heart that
devises wicked schemes; feet that are quick to rush into evil…and a man who
stirs up dissension among brothers. God hates a
person who goes around stirring up the Christian community and making people
hate each other by repeating what one person says to another. Love covers a
multitude of sins.

This post coordinates with tomorrow’s reading in the To
the Word! Bible Reading Challenge. If you are not in a daily reading plan,
please join us at TotheWord.com. We would love to have you reading with us.