“Go on have another one. These chocolates are lovely and what harm will it do any way?”
“Just one kiss won’t hurt and who will know?”
“I know I can’t really afford it but ...”
Life is full of temptations. Every day we are faced with choices between doing the right thing or indulging our selfishness. Today’s readings are all about temptation and the problems it can cause if we don’t resist. Adam and Eve’s temptation by the serpent led to the fall of humanity and it took Jesus’ crucifixion to make things right between the Creator and the creation. Temptation always has a price to pay and sometimes that price is very high and sometimes it is paid by those who did not cave into temptation in the first place; like the abandoned spouse, following that ‘un-harmful’ kiss.
In the reading from Matthew’s Gospel account, Jesus is offered many temptations by Satan, things that perhaps, a purely human man, might have succumbed to. Power and untold wealth are always tempting (you only have to look at the world’s political leaders to see this) but Jesus sought none of these and was thus able to resist the devil’s offers. Jesus could see through the temptations for what they were; short lived, vain glorious trifles. How did he do it? Simply by focusing on the Kingdom of God and not on himself.
I say simply, and Matthew’s writings do seem to make it very easy for Jesus to say “No!”, but I suspect that Jesus did struggle as we do because he was after all human as well as divine. It is, however, his ability to resist the devil and his offerings that shows us his divinity.
We are not divine and we all struggle with temptation. We often give in and fail to live up to the standards we set ourselves but yet we can be assured that we are forgiven when we fail, if we truly repent. We are forgiven because of what Jesus did for us but we have to meet God part way and acknowledge what we may or may not have done.
Today’s readings as we begin our Lenten journey are all about acknowledging temptation and not giving into them. As I’ve indicated it is all too easy to give in but if we do so there are always consequences to face. Life is always going to be full of temptations, it is the way of the world but what we have to do is to continually weigh up whether or not giving into them is actually worth it.
So what is your Lenten challenge?
What are you trying to say “No!” to?
What is your biggest temptation?
Whatever it is pray for God’s help to resist temptation and to stick to your resolves. If you do slip up and give in, do not despair. Simply acknowledge your failure, learn from it and say “sorry” to God and to any you have hurt and then simply start again.