Resisting Temptation: The Easier Way to Suffer

“For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering” Hebrews 2: 10.

This verse tells us Jesus was made perfect through suffering. The only way Jesus and the rest of us become perfect (whole, complete, not sinless) is through suffering.

But we don’t have to (and shouldn’t) experience horrible calamities to grow up. Jesus suffered in many ways. But temptation is one of the most important ways he, and the rest of us suffer(ed) in order to mature.

To read the temptation of Christ, click here. To read the Hebrews 2 passage for context, click here.

Temptation is either our best friend, enabling us to become whole and complete, or our worst enemy, making us weaker and more corrupt. The determining factor is our response, whether we resist or give in.

I don’t think it’s any accident that this verse doesn’t say temptation made Jesus perfect, but that suffering accomplished that goal.

I think one reason is because temptation by itself, doesn’t necessarily make us any better. It can actually make us corrupt with less effort and trouble. In fact, it will make us weaker and more depraved unless we resist it.

And resisting takes much more effort and is not the natural response. But suffering in temptation implies resisting it. And it is resisting temptation that makes us perfect (whole, complete, not sinless).

To read another post similar to Resisting Temptation: The Good Easier Way to Suffer, see The Storms of Life: Why We Will Always Need Them.