Many times he will come to us with his offers one at a time. Like the ignoring door to door sales man. What does he offer? I love the way the New Living put 1 John 2:16a, "For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions." Each one of these areas offer so much, yet temporary satisfaction.
Our church did a thank you desert party for the volunteers. There was all kinds of cakes, cookies, and seasonal treats. Having been off of sugary treats for years, my biggest weakness is gingerbread. I grabbed a couple of those cookies and quickly filled my desire for sweets. I will admit that I grabbed one more on the way into see the blooper video for the year.
My husband on the other hand saw the chocolate cake, which I knew would be too rich for me and warned him to get something other than it. My warning was not heeded as he got a piece of it. This was not a light chocolate cake, it was like a Yule log, dense chocolate, like a dark fudge brownie cake. I took a small taste bite and it overwhelmed me. It was so good and chocolaty BUT way to rich and sweet. Once again, I warned my husband about eating all of it. He failed once again to heed my warning and felt misarable after eating the piece.
We all have those things that we are proud about. Wether it is a car, the promotion at work or our student made honor roll, there is the temptation knocking on the door to say look at me, look at what I have achieved. Pride has the same middle letter as sin, "I". It takes the focus off of God and puts it on self.
Poor Eve, she got hit with all three at one time. The fruit looked good, it would satisfy her hunger, and to be wise like God, how could she resist. Not only was she tempted, she also changed God's Word. We are no better than her and fall many times for the same temptations.
Jesus was the only One that was able not to fall into the temptation trap that Satan set before him. Jesus was tempted in all three areas of life. He was able to resist because He used the Word of God to stop each temptation. That is how Jesus defeated the temptations by knowing God's Word.
Click to Tweet: When we know God's Word we are able to resist the devil and the temptation will stop.