One Man's Thoughts

“It is the watchful heart that discovers and suppresses the temptation before it comes to strength,” (33).

So many times, we come before our Lord after temptation has run its course and we, with tearful eye, are bent in sorrowful pose. The time of asking for forgiveness after choosing to give in to a particular temptation is a scene the Christian is all too familiar with. I have witnessed, and I have acted out in my own life, Christians trying to be righteous in their own strength. If not of their own accord at least attempting to rely upon God’s strength to do things that are holy so as to make God approve of them more. I think the Christian community has developed an incorrect view of what temptation is and what the action of giving our heart to it means for our relationship with the Father.

Flavel seems to point to a lifestyle that is fully aware of what temptation is, and having that view firmly established, admonishes his audience to be on the lookout for such instances that it may begin to form in any area of our lives. This Puritan writer thinks we need to be on guard against at all times in order to kill it or, blow out its flame, before it grows out of control. So that leads us to the main question of this post: What is temptation? In a word: cancerous. Temptation is a tumor of the soul. When caught early it can be dealt with easily and without complication. But allow it to be present and it will bring us back to that solemn place we’ve known so often where we must ask His pardon once more. Let’s look at what scripture has to say about temptation and where it arises from.

“But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death,” (James 1:14-15).

Based on this, what then is the author asking of us? If it is the watchful heart that discovers temptation, then it is a watchfulness that knows the desires, the fears, the shortcomings, the hurts, etc., of one’s own heart. Flavel is directly saying that we need to be honest with ourselves and honest before God about what we desire in this life and why we desire it. Flavel goes further to say that not only is it a Christian duty to know why temptation comes to use but also that we should be watching for it to raise its ugly head. As soon as we see it, we are to swing that Sword of Truth and decapitate the cancer so it cannot live and grow into a problem. What Flavel is really getting at is, as much as it is a Christian duty to engage in other practices to increase relationship with our Savior, so it is to be also in our state of watchfulness. If our hearts really are as corrupt as Jeremiah would have us believe then it is our ‘work’ to know it, find the roots of the issues we find therein (issues meaning the ways we want to be god instead of letting God be as He wants to be to us and us to Him) and then be aware every day of their presence.

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ,” (2 Corinthians 10:5, NIV).

Many times I have viewed this passage of scripture in an outward manner. In an apologetics frame of mind. But I think Flavel would suggest we apply this verse inwardly. We are to have a watchful attitude against our arguments, against our pretensions. We are to take captive every thought of our hearts that sets itself up against the knowledge of God so as to make it align with Christ’s heart for the Father.

Another question we need to consider is, What are we to be doing after receiving Christ as our Lord? Spend time in the Word and in prayer, surely. Find a body of believers for the submitting oneself to service and accountability with others will also be necessary. But it is also very important that we take Flavel’s words and not neglect searching our hearts—asking God in our times of prayer to search us so we may be mindful and on guard against such things that want to hurt and offend this Love we have received. For isn’t it just this what the psalmist meant when he said,

“Search me, God, and know my heart; put me to the test and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there is any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way,” (Psalm 139:23-24, NASB).

The NIV changes the word ‘hurtful’ to ‘offensive.’ Who would our hearts be offensive towards? Towards our loving Savior; hurtful towards our love relationship with Him.  

We do this in our human relationships. If we find there is a habit or attitude that brings hurt to a loved one, we become aware of it, we find the why behind it, and we stop doing it so as to no longer bring hurt to the other by our actions. If we do it in human interactions, why not with Christ? He was fully human, after all. Let us not become so fully occupied by the fact that He was fully God that we lose why He came as one of us—to be more relatable in our experience. We need not relate to Him as a holy God untouchable. Listen to what Christ says to Thomas after rising from the dead and appearing in bodily form,

“Place your finger here, and see my hands; and take your hand and put it into my side; and do not continue in disbelief, but be a believer,” (John 20:27).

 Let us ask the Lord to search our hearts, find the ways that we still want to displace Him as God, work to understand why we have those thoughts, know where they stem from, give them to the Lord to heal, and then be watchful of them. It will be those things, attitudes and emotional responses, that will be our own particular temptations that seek to lead us astray and give way to sin. Be mindful and watch.