Luke 4:1-3-And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.The idea that being tempted to do what we desire is sinful, is not biblical or human nature, given that we are a fallen people from Adam.  A good way to illustrate this, was that my oldest child had been confronted with “vaping”, which is not unusual because he is in middle school (Vaping being an electronic way of smoking).  He told me he was tempted out of curiosity, not because he want’s to be a smoker…(Romans 7:14)
Now had I thought being tempted was evil, I would have chastised him about how impure his thoughts were, and how he really needs to focus on praying and his devotionals because he was tempted.  Now of course focusing more on those things are always beneficial, but they won’t stop temptation.  How do I know, because Jesus was sinless and was tempted…
The beauty of Jesus being fully man and fully God is that He wanted to sympathize with our weaknesses.  The only way He could do that, was to be born and become a man that has the same flesh-laden temptations that we have.  But what makes Him our substitute and advocate before God is His sinless, not his ability not to be tempted.  He was tempted “yet without sin”.  (Colossians 2:9, Hebrews 4:15)
When we understand holiness is not absent of temptation, we can better relate to people we are trying to convey Christ to.  Actually we can be even greater evangelist for the cause of Christ, by being vulnerable enough to say, that it is Jesus that keeps me from living in bondage to my temptations!  Because He has overcome the power of sin, I can be tempted yet refrain from being indulgent!-(Romans 5:20-21, 1 Corinthians 15:56-57, 1 John 5:4)
Without understanding the humanity of Jesus and His vulnerability to be tempted, we could be condemning ourselves for things that reveal we are human with a sinful nature.  Which shouldn’t cause despair, but hope, that if Jesus was tempted, than surely I can be, and overcome it by the power of the Holy Spirit as He did…Amidst temptation keep up the good fight!
In His Love, Ld