Is temptation an enemy? Not always, says author and pastor Tim Chaddick: it can also be our friend.
Speaking at the Books For Life Live event at Trinity Church, Cheltenham today, Chaddick noted that when we think about temptation, our minds automatically go to the "big sins", such as alcohol abuse or extramarital affairs. But, he said, there were also sins like escapism, greed, religiosity and injustice: "Anywhere you live, there are ideas and ways of thinking and opportunities that lure you away from God, lure you away from how He wants you to be a fully functioning human being.
"Many are very subtle, but they are no less powerful. By only focusing on big issues, we miss the profound importance of daily, character-forming choices of life."
For Chaddick, pastor of Reality Church in London and author of The Truth About Lies (David C Cook, £9.99), the moment at which temptation strikes is significant, but how we respond to it is determined by the sort of character we've built up before that point. He instanced King David in the Bible, who is remembered by two names, Goliath and Bathsheba. "One was a great victory, one was a great defeat," he said. "One is a story of great courage, the other of incredible cowardice. But neither were isolated incidents; they were the culmination of choices. That's why they have captured the imagination; we're watching a process take place."
Chaddick said: "The big moment is very revealing, but the way we behave in a moment of challenge is the culmination of choices we've made throughout our daily life." An affair, for instance, begins because of "a relaxed commitment to marriage that began a long time ago".
But temptation was not necessarily a bad thing, he argued. Meeting it and dealing with it was an opportunity to stretch spiritual muscles and to grow stronger. He quoted the Puritan writer John Owen, who wrote: "Temptation is like a knife, that may either cut the meat or the throat of a man."
He said: "Every temptation contains a lie that if believed will send us further away from God's path." But though temptation is an enemy, "it can become a growth opportunity. We are flexing spiritual muscles that grow stronger with every challenge. Every moment of temptation can be an exercise in what matters most."
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