We evaluate all information that is available to us. First, the information is evaluated by the conscience to determine if the information is truth or error, good or evil, right or wrong. Then the information is brought to the heart (a part of the mind) where it is evaluated to determine if the information is gain or loss. Everything you evaluate to be truth/good/right you will accept, while everything you evaluate to be error/evil/wrong you will reject. But that information is also sent to the heart, where everything you evaluate to be gain you will do, and everything you evaluate to be loss you will not do.
If there is a discrepancy between the conscience and the heart where the conscience evaluates that information as truth/good/right, but the heart evaluates it as loss, the result will be that you will not do what you believe is truth/good/right, because it is believed to be loss. And if there is a discrepancy between the conscience and the heart where the conscience evaluates the information as error/evil/wrong, but the heart evaluates it as gain, the result will be that you will do what you believe is error/evil/wrong, because it is believed to be gain. This situation is described in Romans chapter 7.
If the conscience and the heart are not in harmony, there is internal conflict. But if the conscience and the heart are in harmony, there is no internal conflict. This can be good or bad. If the conscience and heart are in harmony because both are deceived to believe that error/evil/wrong are actually truth/good/right and that loss is gain, then that is very bad. This person will believe and do evil without a conflict. But if the conscience and heart are in harmony because both are undeceived, believing truth/good/right to be truth/good/right and that gain is gain and loss is loss, then that is very good. This person will believe and do good without a conflict.
What is it that determines whether the conscience and the heart evaluate information correctly so that they come to the correct conclusion? It is the standard they use to evaluate information with. If the standard is correct, then the conscience and heart will evaluate information correctly and come to correct conclusions and
actions. But if the standard that is used to evaluate information is wrong, then the conscience and heart will evaluate information incorrectly and come to wrong conclusions and actions.
But where does the standard come from? And how do we adopt one standard or another? The standard comes from the one(s) we put our trust in as our source. Humans were created in God’s image, with our trust naturally put in God. And God’s law was our natural standard. Adam and Eve evaluated all information according to that standard and believed the truth and did what was gain. There was no conflict inside of them.
So, how did they end up with another standard? Satan presented them a lie as the truth, that what God had withheld from them was better than what God had given them. He presented to them that what he had to offer was better than what God had to offer. He presented them another standard that was backward and upside down from God’s. His standard saw loss as gain and error as truth. And when they placed their trust in the serpent, they distrusted God and stopped taking from Him as their source, they trusted Satan and started taking from him as their source, and they accepted Satan’s standard as their own.
With Satan’s standard as their own, they still thought they believed the truth and pursued the gain, when they were believing error and pursuing loss. They were in the complete darkness of deception while they believed they were living in the light. And each of their children and grandchildren, etc. were born with this deception/ wrong standard within them.
God created His creatures for love. And love must be free. In order to love, you must be able to choose for yourself. And in order to choose for yourself, you must have the ability to govern yourself. So, God created all of His intelligent creatures to govern themselves from the inside. He never created them to be governed from the outside.
So, when, by their own self-governance, His creatures accepted a lie and a new standard that deceived them into sin and selfishness, God could not fix the problem that was inside of man from the outside. He had to take humanity upon himself, become a man, and fix the problem inside of Himself. Having lived by the true standard and never giving in to the false standard, although thoroughly tempted to do so, Jesus put the false standard to death in Himself. And He resurrected with a new nature that eternally has the true standard. And He offers us access to His new nature through faith in Him as our personal Lord and Savior.
The Holy Spirit then implants the new standard within us, and we then have the possibility of using the true standard as the basis of our evaluation, thus bringing us to correct conclusions of what is truth vs. error, and what is gain vs. loss. We then believe the truth, reject the error, do what is truly gain, and avoid what is truly loss. And our lives are in harmony with God and His will for our lives.
Now, back to temptation. Temptation is presenting to someone information that is all or partially error/evil/wrong as if it is a gain, or information that is true/good/right as if it is a loss.
Again, you must evaluate every bit of information that comes to you. You have no ability to not evaluate information that comes to your notice. You must evaluate it. If you evaluate it by the wrong standard, you will be attracted to error/evil/wrong, thinking that it is true/good/right, and you will do it, thinking it is gain. But, if you evaluate it by the right standard (the law of God), you will not be attracted to error/evil/wrong, and you will not do it, because you will know it is a loss.
There is no sin in being tempted. Jesus was tempted…many times, without sin. Sin is the action that comes from evaluating the information by the wrong standard and then acting upon the error/evil/wrong or not acting upon the truth/good/right.
You will be confronted with thoughts that are temptations. You will “hear” the thoughts in your mind as they are suggested to you by the enemy. It is not a sin to have (or “hear”) such thoughts, just as it was not a sin for Jesus to be tempted by the devil.
What the enemy tries to do is convince you that those thoughts are your thoughts. If he can convince you that those thoughts are your thoughts, then you “own” them. You believe them. You have accepted them as yours. And when they are yours, it has gone beyond just a temptation. It now has significant power in your life.
One strategy to help with temptation is to recognize that evil thoughts are a temptation of the enemy. As long as you believe that they are only a temptation coming from the enemy, and not your own thoughts, then they don’t have power to control you. But the moment you accept them as your own, they do.
For example, if you are married and you see another person and have the thought, “I’m attracted to him/her;” you can either accept that thought as your own, and then you ARE attracted to them, or you can reject that thought as a temptation of the enemy, and then you ARE NOT attracted to them. You can recognize that is the enemy suggesting that you be attracted to that person. When you recognize that is the enemy and only a temptation, you can deal with it as such, and dismiss the thought as a temptation. It is just something “outside” of you and can be relatively easily dismissed.
But, when you believe that thought is your thought, then you believe you are attracted to them. Now you are dealing with something that is “inside” of you—a part of you. And that is much more difficult to overcome.
So, recognize that those negative thoughts are temptations. You have no guilt for having them. And as weak as you may feel yourself to be, remember, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13. “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” 2 Corinthians 12:10. “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James 4:7-8. Your strength is in God and what help He can provide to make you free. And, as you are willing, God “will put His law in your mind, and write it on your heart; and He will be your God, and you shall be His child.” Jeremiah 31:33.
God does not reject you or cast you off because you are tempted or because you fall in temptation. He loves you just the same. Trust Him and His love and allow Him to help you get back up. Accept His forgiveness that is freely offered to you because you need it, and take another step with God, trusting He is there with you and for you.
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