Inherent to man’s fallen nature are deep, internal propensities to sin. These propensities are exploited by various attacks of the enemy, usually in the form of temptations, however they are also exploited by the deceptive nature of man’s very own will.
Men understand that they have this propensity to sin. What’s more, their sinful, internal self knows under what circumstances they would be willing to compromise. Compromise takes place as soon as someone’s external circumstances allow for this internal threshold to be crossed.
What’s tricky, however, is that men know full-well that this threshold exists. Despite a usual inability to articulate the threshold for certain circumstances and certain sins, men know in a general sense what these thresholds are. Thus, the decision to sin, at least in a person who practices restraint, is usually not made in the instant that the sin is committed, but rather when one makes the subconscious decision or compromise to place themselves into the circumstances that they know will cause their internal thresholds to be crossed and their sinful propensities exploited. This action is in and of itself sin already because Christ very clearly explains that the contents of man’s heart condemns him.
Therefore, the battle over sin begins long before one is even tempted to sin, but actually when one is tempted to allow themselves to be tempted to sin. In other words, we can determine in many cases whether or not we will end up in situations that will cause us to be tempted beyond the level of our internal resolve to abstain from sin.
The enemy knows this fact and exploits this problem in several ways. For one, the enemy can appeal to an individual’s pride and cause him to deceive himself into believing that he is stronger than he actually is and can withstand temptation stronger than he can actually handle. The man then ignores his understanding of his thresholds, allows himself to end up in situations wherein he is tempted beyond his abilities to withstand, and he falls.
Another tactic the enemy uses appeals to a man’s desire to sin and tempts a man to intentionally deceive himself into believing that he will not fall if he is subjected to temptation. This allows the man to rationalize placing himself in tempting situations, while his heart knows full well that he will fall into sin when he arrives into those situations. The “innocent” facade his external psyche wears grants enough self-deception to place the man on a delusional, conviction-free road towards gaining the satisfaction from sin that was pre-conceived by his internal psyche long before even being in a position to sin. Essentially, the man is deceived into deceiving himself.
