As long as we are in this world, we will be subject to temptation. It doesn’t matter how strong we are, none of us are immune to it. Even Jesus was tempted to do evil and go against God’s plan for Him. While we can’t escape temptation, we can make it easier to resist.
If we want to not give into temptation, we first need to know why the thing we are being tempted to do is wrong. If we believe what we are being tempted to do is perfectly fine, we won’t see anything wrong with giving into the temptation. While something may seem harmless to do, every sin damages those who commit them. Looking at pornography may seem innocent, but it especially damages the person viewing it. The viewer begins to look at people as objects instead of as children of God. When people become objects of pleasure to us in our minds, it’s easy to also treat them as objects in our daily lives. It not only becomes very hard to love our neighbor as ourself with this attitude, but it becomes hard to properly love anyone at all.
The next thing we need to do in order to resist temptation is to figure out why we are even trying to resist the temptation. We may realize that a particular behavior isn’t good for us, but what’s the big deal? We consume plenty of things that aren’t good for us and we only do it occasionally. Why don’t we just give in to the temptation? Well, we are not only hurting ourselves, but we are hurting our relationship with God when we give in and sin. How good of a friendship would we have with a friend if we did something to hurt them on a regular basis? They might be a best friend and forgive us when we ask for it, but there is still a wound that is left behind and it takes time to heal. Our chance of getting to Heaven greatly increases with a better relationship with God.
Finally, no matter how often we fall, never give up and never stop returning to the light. Satan wants us to get discouraged and feel embarrassed about our sin. Sin can be habit forming and it can become easier and easier to repeat the same sin. However, we need to start another habit of going to the sacrament of reconciliation. The more we do it the easier it will get as well. We can learn a lot from the saints and sinners who came before us. Sometimes, we learn what to do and other times what not to do. Judas gave in to despair and we saw how that turned out for him. Other saints have faced great temptations and they became better people because of it.
It’s the trials in life that often allow us to grow. How can we pass a test if we never get asked a question? How can we hope to win a race without training and hard work? Instead of looking at temptation as a negative thing, look at it as continual opportunity for spiritual and personal growth.
