Submission to God is Essential to Battling Temptation

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.

James 4: 7, 8

In any battle against temptation, submission to God is essential. James, in his usual succinct style, tells fellow Christians that they must submit themselves to God first and foremost. As Christians bow their knee (both literally and figuratively) to God in submission and for help, he answers. James writes, Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

By first willingly submitting themselves to God and all that he deems necessary for them to go through in this life, believers then position themselves to be the swift recipients of God’s rescue. As we learn to run to God when facing temptations of any sort (danger, worry, fear, anxiety, anger, envy, jealousy, discontentment, resentment, etc…), he promises to provide us with a way of escape rather than succumb to the temptation. No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13).

James wants every Christian to understand this foundational spiritual principle. As Christians seek to live out their faith moment by moment in this sin-ridden world, we will experience temptations. The more faithful we are to obey God’s commands, the more fitted we are to resist these temptations, thus resisting the devil and his schemes. As we learn God’s way of righteous living by the daily renewal of our minds through study of the Bible, we are slowly transformed into the character of Christ.

This day by day, one choice at a time decision to live in accordance to scriptural principles is one key element in resisting temptations in their many varied forms. As James continues, come near to God and he will come near to you. Only as we die to ourselves, our wants, our selfishness, can we come near to God with joyful abandon and complete submission.

In this life, we won’t always get our way. In truth, we rarely will. But this small price of dying to self (and selfish gain) is nothing to be compared with the glory God will reveal in us in glory. Today we face a choice. Will we humbly submit to God’s plan for us so that our lives bring him both honor and glory? Or will we stubbornly choose to go our own way even when we know it violates God’s holy standard for his children? Each choice brings with it its own consequences so we must choose wisely.

Questions for Personal Reflection:

1. When you think about the word, “temptation” what comes to mind? Often we think of temptation as something immoral or even illegal, but in Scripture the definition is much more comprehensive.
2. Consider the attitudes of your heart. What heart attitudes do you struggle against regularly?
3. Temptation begins in the heart and mind. How might you fight against unholy thoughts and attitudes toward others by committing to daily Bible reading and memorization?
4. This week choose one Bible verse to commit to memory in your battle against the temptations that confront you most often.