How do you handle temptation? We are always being tempted to sin. Temptation is serious stuff because it leads to sin. Sin is serious because it leads to death. The secret to standing against temptation is to treat it like a hot potato and get it out of our mind as quickly as possible. Temptation itself is not sin. But it leads to sin.

In the trials of temptation, we need to be prepared. A big part of that is to understand how temptation works and how to resist it. Ultimately, our success depends on the grace of God. We need to use the grace he provides. The Holy Spirit uses the Bible to help us avoid sin: I have hidden your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you (Psalm 119:11). We need to study and memorize the Word so the Holy Spirit can bring it to mind when we need it.

What is temptation? It is the thought that comes to us to do what is against the Word and commands of God. It does not come from God (even though God will use it to develop something good in our lives). It comes from our own hearts.

Realize that in every temptation is something that is attractive to us. Temptation contains something good that has been twisted. Don’t expect temptation to look like 100% evil. If there were nothing good in a temptation, it would not affect us at all.

Temptation has three stages: desire, delight and consent. St. Augustine wrote about this in the 4th century. His thought flows with our passage. The first stage is desire (or as James says, our evil desire). We get the idea for sin. It gets our attention. We see the opportunity for sin and we do a double take. There is something there that grabs us. And the thing that grabs us would be sinful. The temptation is not sin. In Hebrews it says that Jesus was tempted in every way, just as we are, except he did not sin.

The second stage of temptation is delight (what James calls being dragged away and enticed). You begin to delight in the idea of your temptation. You think about it. Is it really wrong? Can I get away with it? Will anyone know about it? These ideas go round and round in your heart and mind and your ability to resist temptation weakens and actual sin is near.

The third stage of temptation is consent. You say to yourself, "I’ll do it." Even if you don’t consciously think those words, there is a shift from relishing the idea in your mind to agreeing with it. At that point, you are no longer being tempted—you are sinning. Jesus told us that we could murder and commit adultery in our heart (Matthew 5:21-30). He was talking about the point where we consent to the desire, even if we never act it out. If you actually carry out the sin, it will have greater consequences, but the sin is deadly to your soul even if it never leaves your heart.

This whole process can take a little while. Or you could run through all three in an instant. There are times when you impulsively take something that belongs to someone else. You say foul and hurtful words without really thinking. It is common to go from opportunity and temptation straight to action and sin. In fact, the more we sin, the more we train ourselves to go quickly from desire to delight to consent. What we need is to slow this process down. We want to get out of the habit of sin.

In order to defeat temptation, we must fight it on the first level before we fall into sin. If you don’t fight it until it reaches the delight stage, you are already half beaten. You can’t stop birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair. You can’t stop temptations from coming, but you can shoo them out of your mind rather than let them sit there. Ask God for help. God has given us each other to help as well. If we called each other up when tempted, we would have victory more often.

We need to see temptation for what it is. It will not deliver the goods it promises. Don’t be deceived, dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. What God has for you is really what is good. The temptation of sin might seem attractive now, but it will not give you the joy that God has in store for you. Remember that God loves you and will supply all you need according to his glorious riches.