how to resist temptation’s mirage moment - jon bloom

8/18/2019 How to Resist Temptation’s Mirage Moment - Jon Bloom

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How to Resist Temptation’s Mirage Moment - Jon Bloom

Temptation is not sin. We know this because Eve was tempted before she fell and Jesus wastempted, “yet without sin” (ebrews !"#$%.

Temptation is a disorientin&, defilin& e'perience when evil is presented to us as &ood.

estruction comes dressed up to look like happiness. )in only occurs when we believe that the

destructive lie can actually &rant happiness.

*ne key to resistin& temptation is learnin& to reco&ni+e what call the “mira&e moment.”

The Mirage Moment

- mira&e is that hallucination parched people sometimes e'perience in a hot desert. - real desire

for water and the shimmerin& heat of the sand play disorientin& &ames with the mind and

emotions. - refreshin& oasis seems to appear in the distance promisin& the happiness of a

uenched desire.

- thirsty person mi&ht know that no oasis has previously e'isted in that location. /ut his desire to

be happy, fueled by the hope that this time he 0ust mi&ht find happiness there, or at least relief

from misery, tempts him to believe the vision. f he yields, he discovers his hope was hopeless

and his desire dashed because the oasis was a sham.

n temptation, the mira&e moment occurs as we are tempted by a vision promisin& happiness.

)ome shimmerin& oasis of promised 0oy or relief from despair appears where 1od said it

shouldn2t be.

The mira&e2s appearance taps into our real desire to be happy. *ur disoriented emotions be&in to

respond to this desire with a feelin& of hope 3 hope that maybe this time, even if we2ve been

disappointed many times before, the oasis will uench our desire. /ut we know that 1od has told

us it is a false hope.

)o we are faced with a choice between temptation2s compellin& appearance and 1od2s promise.We are tempted, but have not yet succumbed to sin.

Learning from Eve’s Mirage Moment

The most notorious mira&e moment in history is recorded in 1enesis 4. -nd it illustrates a

pattern consistent in all the temptations that we face.

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The satanic serpent showed up in the &arden and uestioned Eve about the tree of the knowled&e

of &ood and evil. Eve2s e'planation shows that she clearly understood 1od2s promise and

warnin& (1enesis 4"#54%.

Then came Eve2s mira&e moment. The serpent replied"

“6ou will not surely die. 7or 1od knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and

you will be like 1od, knowin& &ood and evil.” )o when the woman saw . . . (1enesis 4"!58%

There it is" the mira&e. Eve saw somethin& she had not seen before"

9Eve: saw that the tree was &ood for food, and that it was a deli&ht to the eyes, and that the tree

was to be desired to make one wise. (1enesis 4"8%

Eve was e'periencin& the defilement of evil temptation. )he was bein& told somethin& very

different about the tree from what 1od had told her, and so the tree suddenly looked different toher and she felt different about it.

1od created Eve (and all of us% so that the meanin& of her sensory impressions was shaped by

what she believed to be true. )atan knew this. e knew that if he could chan&e the meanin& of

the tree for Eve from the curse of death (1enesis ;"#atthew !"#5##? >ark #"#;5#4? @uke

!"#5#4%. Whether usin& food (@uke !"4%, or a cross=less path to power (@uke !"$5


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“whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Comans #!";4%. )o )atan set before Jesus mira&es

to tempt him with faithless promises of divine happiness.

We who live with indwellin& sin don2t know the levels to which the sinless 1od=man was

affected. /ut we do know that what Jesus e'perienced were temptations. Jesus was &iven a

choice between compellin& deceptive appearances and 1od2s promises. -nd to each temptation,

Jesus responded, “t is written. . . . ” e refused to believe )atan2s deceptive mira&es or the

emotions they roused. e kept food, power, the revelation of his divinity, and everythin& else

holy by receivin& them only throu&h the word of 1od and prayer.

Recognize and Resist the Mirage Moment

)atan employs the same temptation tactics with us. -nd one key to not lettin& him outwit us (;

Dorinthians ;"##% is to be on the alert to our mira&e moments.

dentify the hope temptin& mira&es offer. The reason temptations are hard to resist is becausehope is hard to resist. Temptations threaten us with missin& out on happiness or less misery. We

must ask ourselves what the mira&e is really promisin& )ometimes 0ust sayin& it out loud breaks

its spell.

eclare, like Jesus, “t is written” and take your stand on a promise 1od has made to make you

happy. on2t fi&ht hope merely with denial. 7i&ht false hope with true hope. etermine to hope

in the 1od of hope (Bsalm !;"##? Comans #$"#4%, not a shimmerin& hopeless mira&e.

E'pect the mira&e to be temptin&. 1od made you to want to be happy and the mira&e has

promised you happiness. )o of course your emotions, which have responded to the initialdeceptive vision, will want the happiness. They will feel demandin&, but denyin& them won2t kill

you. n this case, &ratifyin& them 0ust mi&ht kill you. on2t allow your passions to be your

dictators (Comans 8"#;%. Cemember, emotions are &au&es, not &uides. They are indicatives not

imperatives. They are to be directed, not to be directors.

To be tempted is not a sin. To yield to temptation is sin. Temptations are never truly as stron& as

they feel. Their power lies solely in the false hope they produce in us. Cemember, it is hope that

is powerful. 1od created us to hope in him (Bsalm !4"$%.

n temptation, )atan is 0ust tryin& to use our 1od=&iven desire for hopeful happiness a&ainst us. f

we can identify his false promise of hope, declare the true promise of hope, and e'pect to

weather some disorientin& emotional ur&es, the mira&e will dissipate and our hope in 1od2s

promised happiness will stren&then.
http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom%2014.23http://biblia.com/bible/esv/2%20Cor%202.11http://biblia.com/bible/esv/2%20Cor%202.11http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ps%2042.11http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ps%2042.11http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom%2015.13http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom%2015.13http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom%206.12http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ps%2043.5http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom%2014.23http://biblia.com/bible/esv/2%20Cor%202.11http://biblia.com/bible/esv/2%20Cor%202.11http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ps%2042.11http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom%2015.13http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Rom%206.12http://biblia.com/bible/esv/Ps%2043.5

how to resist temptation’s mirage moment - jon bloom

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