Ways To Deal With Temptation [Final Part]
A few days back, we took a look at the first part of what to do in the face of temptation in order to overcome them. Here, we will round it up in this final part. One thing to understand is that it does not matter your status or your age, you will be faced with temptation at some point, so what you should be concerned about is how to put a fight against them and overcome them.
One very potent way of warding off some kinds of temptation is to be contented with what you have at the moment. What you do not have now, you should not try by unwholesome methods to get it at all cost. Most times, the principal hinge upon which temptation hangs on is greed and selfish desires. Obviously, when you become contented with what you have and become grateful for it, greed will not creep into your life and the temptation to go into financal improprieties will be subdued.
That you cannot afford to own something at the moment does not mean that in the not-so-distant-future you won't be able to afford you. Most times, temptations will just paint a picture of the future in the present and if you are not careful, you may tend to eat your future now. This is just like a farmer eating up his seeds because he cannot wait for it to mature into fruits. The truth is, there is always a maturity period for everything and you must come to terms with it so that it will not weaken you.
Another potent way to put up a fight against temptation is to know that you have the ability within you to overcome it. Most times, people tend to give excuses about "weakeness" when they fall into temptation. However if you have the knowledge that you are well able to overcome any temptation that comes your way, you will be well equipped to take them, and you will not have reasons to use "weakeness" as an excuse.
However, one may ask, what will you do when you see yourself giving heed to temptation? Well, you should realize that even if you have fallen, there is still another chance for you to rise up again and put things in order. As long as you do not remain in your fallen state, then the temptation has not succeeded in holding you bound. It will only become bad when you do not rise up from your fallen state. Remember what Conficius once said:
Our glory (referring to China) does not lie in not falling but in rising up each time we fall.
You see, if you can pick up yourself from where you have fallen before, you can use the lesson that you learnt from it to prevent yourself from falling again. By this, you would have built up yourself against future reoccurrence. Always have in mind that the temptation that you fell into today does not mark the end of the road for you, it only suggests that you should build up your strength more to face them in the future. The absolute responsibility to build up yourself rests entirely on your shoulders, so you have to take the responsibility wholly.
Thanks for reading
