Today in the Word Daily Devotional

For years I’ve mentored young men, ages 17–24, and we would often spend a long time on the topics of temptation and lust. I would tell them that sexual desire itself is a good thing, a God thing. But when we misuse, abuse, or distort that desire, it has devastating effects.

Many Christians think willpower is the key to overcoming temptation. They believe that all we need to do is to try harder. In Romans 6, the apostle Paul reveals a different strategy. He shows us how to fight temptation with truth. One reason we yield to temptation may be that we do not understand the change that has occurred from being in Christ. As a result, we respond to sin as if its power still enslaves us. Our instinct to rely on our own strength is a kind of muscle memory in the spiritual realm.