by Staff Writer Matthew VanTryon

The conversation was getting heated, and Tyler was trying to keep his temper in check. However, despite his valiant efforts, “#^%*” came out of his mouth. He immediately hung his head in shame.

“I promised I would stop that.”

As the Chemistry test was being passed down the row, Jessie began to worry. Okay, so maybe worry was an understatement. She was sweating, and profusely at that. Lucky for her, the valedictorian of her class was sitting right next to her… The teacher won’t notice, she thought. Jessie managed to “check” a few answers that she wasn’t quite sure on. The guilt followed her around for the rest of the day and the teacher eventually found out, causing her to fail the class.

“I thought I was over that battle.”

Drew was walking around the mall when THAT girl came around the corner. He didn’t mean to, but his eyes lingered a little too long… “Hey bro, are you coming to youth group tonight?” asked his friend, who seemingly appeared out of thin air. “Uh, yeah! I’ll be there!” Drew walked away dejectedly.

“I really should stop doing that. But everyone else does it, so it can’t be that bad, right?”

If you are like 99% percent of the human population that has walked (and will walk) on this earth, you undoubtedly mess up. We all mess up. Most people struggle with one or two specific things that they just can’t seem to control. So, they either give up trying to fix it, or they beat themselves up over it.

Fortunately, God saw us in this flawed condition and provided a solution. “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Romans 5:8.

But God’s grace doesn’t mean we get a “Sin all you want” card.  “Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.” (Romans 6:15-16)

You’re probably thinking, “Okay, righteous living is great and all, but I still face temptation. Isn’t there some way to fight it?” Here are just a few ways to fight some of the temptations that come our way. While not 100% fool proof, they’ll at least get you headed in the right direction.

• Be held accountable. If there is a specific area that you are struggling with, find someone to talk to about it, someone you can trust who can ask how you are dealing with it.
• Pray. It seems overly simple, but prayer often helps me when I am facing temptation. Pray that God will give you the strength to resist.
• Read Scripture. While this may sound cliché, reading God’s Word is a great way to fight temptation. The Bible says that the Word of God is a sword to help fight the devil. “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:17

You’re not alone in your battle. God has offered you weapons so you can arm yourself. You just have to be ready to use them.

Matthew VanTryon is a junior at Covenant Christian High School in Indianapolis. He loves to hang out with friends and use his various abilities to glorify God and help others. He enjoys sports, and loves to read and write about them.