I love chocolate. If it is in the house, I tend to eat it. It is too much of a temptation for it to be sitting on the shelf. I swear I hear it calling my name. If I don’t want to be tempted to eat that chocolate, I shouldn’t even bring it into the house.

This may be a trivial way to speak of something a lot more serious, but it gets the point across. Chocolate may not be a sin, eating it may not be a sin, but the temptation is still that, a temptation. You can replace chocolate with any number of things, much more serious things that can be considered sin, like drinking too much alcohol, having an affair, taking illegal drugs, or any sin that you are driven to through temptation.
 

If you are an alcoholic, and you are on the wagon, the last place you should be is in a bar. You shouldn’t put yourself in a position to be tempted, even if you think you can withstand that temptation…you might be able to fight it off once, or twice, or maybe even a hundred times, but at some point, you may not be able to fight anymore, and you will be drinking again.

If you have had an affair in the past, the last place you need to be is alone with someone of the opposite sex who is not your spouse. The temptation to stray may not be there at first, but the more you put yourself in that position, the more likely you will think that you can get away with it and you will do it.

Whatever your sin is, whatever your Achilles heel is, the thing that is most tempting, the thing that you have the hardest time NOT doing even though you know it is wrong, you need to avoid situations that might lead to that sin, at all costs. Don’t put yourself in a position to be tempted. You might think “I am a Christian now, things are different, I won’t do that horrible thing again, I learned my lesson, God is now in my heart.” That may all be true, and at that point in time you might be sincere, but never say never. Never say that you won’t do that “thing” again. We are human, and satan is constantly trying to get us to stumble, and he knows what it will take to make us stumble. He knows where our Achilles heel is, and how to get to us. Don’t help him out by putting yourselves in situations that will tempt you to do the very thing you said you would never do.

We do have God on our side, and if we put on the full armor of God, we can fight the temptations that threaten us. But so many times, you think you have put on your armor, only to find that you have not. And when your guard is down, that temptation comes, and before you know it, you have stumbled.

I know what my Achilles heel is. I know what gets me, and what could cause me to stumble, and I avoid the situations that put me in danger of stumbling. I have on the full armor of guard, and I try not to let my guard down, but I know I am still human, so I don’t let myself be tempted. And I never say never…instead I say, Lord protect me today from anything that might cause me to fall. He is faithful to us, if we are faithful to Him. He will not let us be tempted without providing a way out. But we have to be in tune with Him, ready to flee from that temptation.

Make sure you know what your Achilles heel is, that sin that causes you to fall…and pray about it, put on the full armor of God to guard against it, and never, ever put yourself into a position to be tempted.