"Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other" (2 Nephi 2:16)

We all experience temptation every day in many forms- from what to wear, what food we will or won't eat, words to say, and how we will or won't treat others. In addition, what we watch and what we listen to, these just being a few temptations. We are faced with choices when we are tempted. Temptation comes in so many forms that I had never really even thought about. Here are some thoughts and ideas to jump start your own study of temptation and the atonement of Christ. This is not a complete essay, but some of my thoughts on temptation.

Having experienced a shoulder injury over the last 6 months, and finally to have surgery and get the damage repaired, I had never thought of "pain of body" as a temptation (Mosiah 3:7). But pain is a temptation to us. Pain can tempt us to take too much pain medication to relieve the discomfort we are experiencing. It can tempt us to respond in anger when someone hurts us or simply annoys us when we are not feeling well. Temptations come from "hunger, thirst, and fatigue" (Mosiah 3:7), these being my classic temptations to respond as a total jerk to the ones I love, throw in being cold and I am more than likely to lash out in anger or respond with impatience until those basic needs have been met. Temptation is all about choice. Temptation can also be a form of suffering or pain. It is sometimes very painful for me to have to choose between two good things. It was painful for me to have to choose between getting surgery or not. I was tempted to not have it at all. I am grateful I chose to endure the pain from surgery and  will endure the physical therapy that is ahead so that in the long run I will heal and be pain free.

But why must we experience temptation? A simple answer is this: "Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Wherefore, man could not act for himself save it should be that he was enticed by the one or the other" (2 Nephi 2:16). We, through exercising choice and choosing to act according to God's will, learn obedience. Christ also, through His suffering and temptations, learned obedience. "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered" (Hebrews 5:8).

God's ultimate purpose is for us to be with Him, to have "immortality and eternal life" (Moses 1:39). When we experience temptation we are actually going through a small amount of suffering, choosing to either be enticed by "the natural man [which] is an enemy to God...[or] yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and [put] off the natural man and [become] as a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and [become] as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord sees fit to inflict upon [us], even as a child does submit to his father" (Mosiah 3:19).

Temptation is part of God's plan for us. What a great blessing that we get to practice choosing how to respond and act as Christ would when we experience temptation because His desire for us is "that [we] should be perfect even as I, or your Father who is in heaven is perfect" (3 Nephi 12:48; Matt. 5:48).