We are surrounded by temptation everyday - temptations that reveal how we will respond to the gospel and whether we will follow the Spirit or give in to our flesh.
To “give your life” to Jesus is to lay down your own way of living and choose to follow His Word instead of the fleshly desires the world tells us are “right.” When I made this decision, I just knew the way I was living wasn’t what I wanted anymore - and His way was.
I didn’t realize there was a difference between simply knowing there is a God and truly knowing the one true God and following His Word - what He has called us to do.
After responding to the gospel, I dove into the Word - reading, learning, and falling in love with who He is and all that He has created. For the first time, I began to see Him clearly. In doing that, I began to see myself and this world through His truth.
As I began to learn more about God, He began to change my desires to align with His. You see, this is what happens! When we are living by our own ways, we are blind to His Word. We don't see Him the way He intends for us to. But, once we accept our forgiveness and choose Him, and continue to learn His Word - His Spirit in us begins to align our desires with His.
Psalm 37:4 — “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
This doesn’t just mean He grants desires - it means He forms them as we delight in Him.
Obedience isn't checking off a list of do and don'ts, it's saying Yes out of love.
But you see, once your desires change to align with His, temptation is there to remind you what you chose to give up.
1 Corinthians 10:13 — "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."
Temptation is the pull or enticement to step outside of God’s will, often appealing to our natural desires and drawing us toward sin.
God designed this World perfectly, but when humanity chose to rebel against Him, everything became distorted. The world became upside down. Sin began to look desirable and righteousness became impossible. That is, until Jesus took on our sin and nailed it to the cross. He took the punishment that was meant for us. Jesus became the bridge that restores our relationship with God and allows us to stand in righteousness before Him.
Yet God still gives us free will to choose - because He is kind and desires genuine relationship, not forced obedience.
This doesn’t mean that once you give your life to Jesus, you will never sin again. As long as we live in a sinful world, we will still face sin. But God looks at the heart. You can know the Bible from front to back and still not truly know Him. What He desires is a relationship.
He wants your heart.
Just like you have a relationship with your mom and dad, He desires that kind of closeness with you. And as that relationship grows, obedience becomes a natural response - not out of obligation, but out of love.
Romans 12:2 "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."
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