Common To Man

1 Cor. 10:13  No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man...

It seems reasonable to me to think that when the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness (Mt. 4:1-11) he did his very best to try and cause Jesus to sin.  So what tactics did he use?  Well, first, knowing that Jesus was hungry from fasting, the devil told Jesus to turn stones into bread, to satisfy the lust of the flesh.  Then he told Jesus to throw Himself from the pinnacle of the temple and have the angels keep Him from harm, to satisfy the pride of life.  Finally, he offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world He could see from a high mountain in return for worship, to satisfy the lust of the eyes.  These were the three areas in which the devil tempted Jesus and in which he will also tempt us.  They are described in Scripture (1Jn. 2:16) as "all that is in the world".  Jesus recognized each temptation and was able to successfully resist it with the written Word of God.  He was tempted in all things, just like we are, yet He didn't sin (Heb. 4:15).  His temptations were those common to man, common to us.  The devil will continue to use the same old tactics to tempt us that he tried unsuccessfully on Jesus.  The CEV Bible Translation says we are tempted in the same way everyone else is (was or ever will be) tempted.  Including Jesus.

For us to be successful, therefore, I believe we must employ the same strategy that Jesus did in resisting temptation and sin.  First, we need to recognize it, to be sober and vigilant (1Pet. 5:8) so as not to get caught off guard by our enemy.  Don't think for one minute that Jesus didn't realize exactly what the devil was doing or that it was only by luck or good fortune that He remained sinless.  And secondly, we must resist it.  If we have hidden God's Word in our heart (Ps. 119:11), when a temptation presents itself we can respond as Jesus did by saying, "It is written."  We can resist the devil and he will flee (Jas. 4:7).

We are all tempted in the same way.  We can all triumph in the same way.  Our victories over temptation and sin can and should be common to man!


Sock Monkey Snippet:  We are all tempted in the same way.  We can all triumph in the same way.