'Resistance to temptation means taking desire seriously. Both Jesus and Satan do. There is a way to seek to coach people toward "victory" over their desires simply by downplaying how powerful those desires actually are. It is the message of, "Just don't do it." For a while that makes perfect sense. It makes sense (it has, in fact, "appearance of wisdom") to say of those things that might awaken the lusts of the flesh, "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch." But such restrictions "are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh" (Col.2:21,23).
Why? Because the desires are made to be more powerful than human decisions. They are meant to show you that you are a creature and to point you to Christ. The antidote is to see where those desires point to the gospel and to cling to the mystery itself, or rather to the mystery himself.'
Russell D Moore, Tempted and Tried, p.178.
