Being A Joseph

Temptation. We all face it, yet I don't hear many messages preached on it. Not sure why. Could it be that we assume temptation only involves the big sins that we would never give into anyway? How do we handle temptation when it comes. And it will come. Here are some thoughts I had on the subject. Excuse my humble efforts.

Joseph had it rough. Sold into slavery by his mean brothers, and sent off to a foreign land. But then he lucked out. Ended up as head of the household in the second most important person in Egypt.

We get the idea that Joseph was very good to look at. In today's language, he was a stud. So you got studboy working in this house, and you have the lady of the house. The Bible doesn't say much about her looks, but she was most likely beautiful. A babe. So, the rich babe notices studboy. Sees his muscles ripple, and her fire is lit. She is used to getting what she wants. So she tells him she wants him. He turns her down. Day after day, she bugs him. I'm sure he was tempted. He was a normal hot-blooded guy. Then finally one day, she can't take it anymore.

No one else is around. She grabs him, throws him onto the bed and tries to have her way with him.....ok, maybe she doesn't throw him on the bed, but she grabs him and throw herself at him. He is so desperate to please God that he leaves his clothes behind. We all know what happens. She pulls her feminine wiles about her, claims "rape" and poor Joseph goes to prison for doing the right thing.

I wonder if he could do it over again, would he have ran? I think so. Cowardly? Not at all. I am afraid too many of us aren't interested in fleeing temptation - we open the door and invite it in. Someone has said that opportunity knocks once, but temptation keeps on right on knocking.

People are more worried about pleasing themselves, than God. We make excuses. But I'm so lonely. She is just too hot to turn down. I need the release. On and on they go. And as we go, we take advantage of God's grace. "God will forgive me." "I will just do it this one time, and then never again." And yes, God is a God of love and grace, but that doesn't mean we need to give into temptation.

A funny thing about temptation. If you give in, it doesn't go away. And once you give it a toe hold, it throws the door open and marches in. And the devil isn't happy if you give into the temptation. Once he gets you to cross a line, he tries to pull you across another, and another.

Not everyone struggles with habitual sinning. Some do. Sex, pornography, drugs, smoking, lust -those are the "bad" ones. But there is also gossip, lying, and other "nicer" sins. Looking back at my own struggles and temptations, I have to admit I haven't fought hard enough. Temptation would rear its head and say how much fun that would be - and I'd agree and start thinking about it. Wishing that would happen, or this. We don't all have temptation thrown in our lap like Joseph - all too many times, we invite it. We walk up to the edge of the cliff, step over the fence, and try to balance ourselves on the edge of the cliff. Is it any wonder so many fall over?

How badly do we want to say no to temptation? Do we really want to say no? A lot of sinful things are fun, and in my own life, and others, I am sure - we get too attached to the fun. We almost look forward to temptation coming. We sit on the doorstep so it doesn't even have to knock on the door.

The more we give into temptations, the more they will progress. We look at people who use child pornography, and think "how sick" - and it is. There are people who are into deviant sexual practices that would make us turn away in disgust. Yet they didn't get there overnight. Years ago, they were tempted to look at pornography, and they gave in. Soon, it wasn't enough, so they had to go find something more deviant. The person involved in deviant sexual habits didn't set out to do that. They gave into sexual temptation and kept giving in, never being totally satisfied, and now, they are doing things they never would have.

That's not to say everyone who gives into sexual temptation or pornography will go that far, but they will always go further and do more than they intended. An affair doesn't start by a couple jumping into bed together. It starts with flirtatious remarks and glances. Crossing a line here and there that doesn't seem like a big deal Telling yourself you can control it, and you will never go that far.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and many do not intend to go as far as they do and destroy their lives, and sometimes the lives of others, but sin is like that. We give into one little temptation, then the bigger ones follow, and it is easier to give into the big ones too.

We live in a pleasure-mad society. Even the average Christian is too concerned with pleasure, and not enough about God. No wonder we give into temptation so easily.

The Bible says:

Corinthians 10:13 (New Living Translation)
13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

The question is, do we really want the escape? Or are we already toying with the idea of giving in? Are we expecting the way out to be an angel swooping down and rescuing us? The Bible does say there is a way of escape. We may need to use our feet to find it. Run. Make a phone call.

I have had occasion to work with guys struggling with certain issues, and it amazed me at how unwilling some of them were to set up guards against the temptations they faced. They would make excuses. Try to avoid the subject. If we truly want to please God, we are not going to dwell on the temptation and what it offers. We will run, set up safeguards.

I could be off base, but I'm afraid it doesn't boil down to temptation being hard to resist. It comes down to which is more important to us. Our pleasure, or pleasing God.

If we all acted as Joseph, we would have far less heart ache and regret. And who knows what God could do with us if we said "no". It got Joseph a prison term, but later got him a position second only to the king of Egypt. I wonder if he had been like us, and embraced the temptation, instead of running, if we would even have heard of him. I don't think we would have.