AOTS Blog Aubout the AOTS AOTS National Exeutive AOTS Projects and Awards The Handshake Newsletter AOTS Monthly Devotions Contact the AOTS

News and Info - General News and Announcements | The United Church of Canada

Temptation and the Christian Man

As Christian men, how can we live our faith without compromise in a world full of temptations? Can we maintain ethical standards in business and personal integrity in our social lives, when external pressures and internal forces are constantly enticing us away from the Christian life?

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

As Christian men, we think that it should be easy to follow the words of Jesus and have absolutely no problems with temptation. We should be able to function effectively in the world without compromising our faith.

Temptation is all around us and whether we realize it or not we are making those decisions every single day.

The Bottom-Line

Companies striving to succeed in this modern world and strong competition have led to some of the most questionable acts of ethics. It is important for the companies as well as the individuals to stand back and look at the impact of their decision and decide whether it is right or wrong.

Too many people hide behind the bottom-line, doing what is in the best interest for their shareholder or the customer and not using ethics to guide their decisions.

Today more than ever we must strive to do what is right rather than doing what is easiest. The word is getting too small and there is a growing transparency so that no one will be able to hide behind unethical decisions. Many companies have been paying big bucks to reinvent or fix a tarnished image that they have created by these sorts of practices.

Power of the Media

Every day we are inundated by Hollywood beauty and needing to have the newest toys because they make us feel l younger and more popular.

Are we as Christian men going to follow what we are told is right by the media or take the high road and make our own decisions about how the world should be?

When we look at women are we going to judge them based off of what we see in the magazines and on television or are we going to see them as our sisters, daughters and friends. I see my 4 year old daughter playing with boys from daycare as if there are absolutely no differences in the sexes. There seems to be some sort of purity in that childhood innocence that we need to get back. How and when did that change?

Sinning with thought or action is never supposed to be acceptable. God expects us to do the right thing even though we are constantly told by today’s culture sinning is okay.


Giving in to temptation?

There are many examples in the Bible were women are temptations; maybe this has been something that men have been dealing with for a very long time.

The most famous example, of course, was Eve, when she was lured by Satan to eat the forbidden fruit and then tempted Adam (Genesis 3:6). Samson was lured by the deceiving Delilah (Judges 16) and, of course, King David was tempted by Bathsheba. (2 Samuel)

Money was also a frequent temptation in the Bible. Men like Achan in Joshua 7:21, and Judas took money for what they knew was wrong. They both were punished for their sins.

It is good to know and also inspiring that there are several examples of Biblical characters who responded correctly to temptation in the Bible. Abraham refused to accept a reward for service to King Of Sodom after a battle in Genesis 14:22-24. The prophet Elisha refused payment when he performed a miraculous healing in 2 Kings 5:16. Peter also refused a bribe in Acts 8:20: "Peter answered: 'May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!'"

The Right Thing to Do

When I was a young boy I use to ask myself the question, “what would my Mom say if she knew?” or if it was close to Christmas, “what would Santa say?” When we get older we sometimes need that little “check” to give us the time to be objective rather than acting without thinking or simply following the masses.

The truth is we are all tempted by many things, every day and we have to be strong, take the time to ask ourselves one question: Is it the right thing to do and will these actions hurt anyone?

Is there anyone out there that has fought against temptation and won? I would love to hear your stories or comments.

1 comment:

lamlam said...

i'm impressed! an attention-grabbing blog post.

www.triciajoy.com

Post a Comment