Day 23 - General Exhortations

As Owen closes out his book, Temptation Resisted and Repulsed, he gives three final exhortations on fighting temptations.

Owen warns that we must no think we are beyond temptation in life, that we have arrived and no longer need fear it. Thus, he says we must not neglect the means of fighting temptation that Christ has told us to practice especially watching and praying.

We must not forget that the One who is our Lord, Jesus Christ, is always watching over us. We do not want to walk in such a way that would disappointment Him. We do not want to be lazy in our watching as the disciples were, falling asleep when they were to be praying and on watch.  (Mark 14:37) We do not want to be negligent in our duty to watch and pray against temptation and in doing so bring grief to our Lord.

We must see beyond the moment and realize that if we neglect our duty to fight against temptation, it may very well lead God to bring affliction and discipline upon our life. And this affliction and discipline (what Owen calls "judgment") may be heavy and unbearable. This correction may be "full of woe and discipline." We must take our duty seriously because destruction and discipline await when we enter into temptation and embrace sin.

The final challenge is this:

Oh, then, let us strive to keep our spirits unentangled.
Let us avoid all appearance of evil and all the ways of leading to it.
Let us be particularly aware of all the courses of life, business, society, and employment
that we have already found to be to our disadvantage.

John Owen, Temptation Resisted and Repulsed