Dealing with Temptation

I've often heard it said that a great way to combat temptation is to view the tempation as God does - see it from His perspective and deal with it as He would have you.  I like this saying, but it is easier said then done.

It can be very easy to view situations which are tempting and say something like, "God doesn't like that because it draws my attention away from Him and hurts others as well as myself".  It is one thing to have such knowledge, but we must do more than just recall information when resisting temptation.  To truly view the temptation from God's perspective does not simply mean to know how God feels about it, but it means to actually feel ourselves as He feels toward tempations.  If we are truly viewing temptation from God's perspective then we will actually feel the sickness and disgust that He sees in all the things that draw us further from Himself.

Part of feeling as He does toward sin is to really examine the sin.  We need to look at all it's parts, including how it affects God and those around us.  Many times we know a temptation is wrong, but because we are being selfish, we only view it from our own pespective; and that perspective is one which has us desiring in some way shape or form to give in...hence the term "temptation".  But when we sit back and view the situation through God's eyes, rather than our own, we can get a more clear perspective.  Another strategy is to look at the situation from the perspective of someone else commiting the sinful act.  Sometimes that can help us gain increased clarity on how foolish it really would be for us to give in, because we see how disgusting it is when someone else gives in.

In general, sin hurts God, and if we truly love God, we should be running from all forms of it.  We should not be sitting around contemplating how we could manage to "give in", for when we do we are hurting ourselves.  God wants what is best for us, and He knows what is best for us.  It is imperative that we resist temptations and run toward the things that He says is right, for we will always benefit from doing so.

I feel it is important to remember, that any time we are not greatly bothered by sin and temptation, then we have not accurately viewed the situation from God's perspective.