The Testing Place

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. James 1:12 (nkjv)

Some people still debate the fruit of the forbidden tree in Genesis 2. The common misconception is that it was an apple that tempted Eve. I beg to disagree. That would have been way too easy to resist. Think about it. Eden was a tropical paradise filled with all kinds of delicious fruit: peaches, plums, mangos, oranges, and bananas, just to guess a few. What gal would pass up one of those sugary delights for a plain old apple? Whoever started that rumor wasn’t very creative.

Any woman knows the only temptation strong enough to cause Eve to cozy up to a snake had to be chocolate. “But chocolate doesn’t grow on trees!” you say. Maybe not, girlfriend, but the cocoa bean does, and that’s chocolate any way you slice it.

Everybody has a weak spot, a “testing place” in life where desire has the potential to outweigh reason; and temptation, like a dam, can give way to disobedience. Eve discovered her testing place underneath the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. I suppose we all end up there . . . we are simply looking up at different fruit.

The problem is the Devil knows exactly where that place is for each of us. He is waiting there now, and he has something in his hand you can’t resist. If you give in he will use that temptation to break your heart, steal your influence, rip your family apart, mutilate your reputation, and destroy your Christian testimony. Do not underestimate your Adversary; rather, “Resist him, steadfast in the faith” (1 Peter 5:9, nkjv). Do not run. Resist! Fight rather than flee! You can “[overcome] him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of [your] testimony” (Revelation 12:11, nkjv).

Today I confess there is power in the name of Jesus and the blood of His cross. Every sinister plot that has been designed to defeat me must fall limp and tremble in the glorious knowledge that the tomb is empty and Lord Jesus is alive! “God is faithful, who will not allow [me] to be tempted beyond what [I am] able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that [I] may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13, nkjv). Amen.