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Archives: June 2009
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Archives: June 2009
Resisting
temptation...
I remember when I was about 6 years old and my Mum had just baked some of my favourite chocolate crispy cakes. There they were, looking and smelling as delicious as ever and I knew it was just a case of waiting for them to cool on that table for half an hour or so before I could take that mouthwatering bite.
We had to go out to town or somewhere so we thought it would be sensible to go while waiting for these cakes to cool down. Sadly, I was not the only one who had got my eye on these treats; on returning to the house we found every last cake gone and in the corner of the room sat our dog, looking full and fairly guilty.
She quite clearly knew that she was not meant to eat the cakes - she knew we would not want her to - but for her the temptation was too much. Even though she had to jump up to the table to reach them and even though she knew it was bad, the smell of those chocolate crispies was so great that she was unable to resist the temptation.
We have all been through trials and temptations; we each have our weak points that the Devil can tempt us in, whether it be getting drunk, watching things we should not watch or eating too many chocolate crispy cakes. One thing that we all need to know and remember is that Jesus has been through it all before us and as such can help us.
In the first 11 verses in chapter 4 of Matthew we can read about the temptation of Jesus. While not the only time Jesus was tempted, it's an indepth look at how he handled temptation and how we can imitate that.
Identity crisis
In his first temptation the Devil said to him, after fasting for 40 days and nights, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."
Jesus must have been absolutely starving and so the temptation to prove himself as God and create food was immense yet Jesus resisted. In the second temptation Satan tries to get Jesus to jump off the highest point of the temple, proving that God would save him from falling. Jesus declined the invitation.
The third way in which Jesus was tempted was Satan offering him the entire world and its worship if Jesus would simply bowed down and worshipped him for a bit.
In each, the devil was not just enticing Jesus with a short cut to alleviate the discomfort of the moment. The devil was playing with Jesus' very identity and potential insecurities.
Jesus was the Son of God and was going to prove it in a life of obedience. The Devil wanted him to prove it in a cheap miracle of stones to bread in a time when Jesus would have been questioning his call.
Jesus' life was about trusting in God on a daily basis, and ultimately, in trusting God with his fate. When he was dying on the cross it was faith in his Father that kept him there. His will be done. The devil here was playing on the uncertainty that perhaps God couldn't be trusted with his life, so prove it by throwing yourself off a building.
Jesus was going to receive all the world and its worship, but only as part of his mission and at the highest costs. Jesus wanted to redeem his people for his Father's glory after a life of suffering and death. Satan was offering him instant results, a short cut to the applause, but with no substance.
In each, Satan tempts by touching on deep, sensitive areas of identity and calling. He takes something that's true and mixes it with a lie. It's the most intricate of psychological warfare. Jesus countered each with specific scripture that was deep rooted in his heart as the anchors of his identity.
The temptations we have often play on our identity. I remember times going to the pubs with my friends and being tempted to drink far too much. The pressure is on to belong, to gain respect. Playing on my needs to be liked and wanted. Good desires placed in me by God that allow me to function in good relationships.
But doing that by drinking lots is obviously not true and it is in these times that we have to have resilience and maintain inner strength to continue to follow Jesus even in the pub.
But how do we do that? Our temptations are either more subtle than all that, or are just really impulsive, especially if we're caught up in addictive behaviour.
The comfort of these scriptures is knowing that Jesus has been through every kind of temptation. When it's difficult to continue living as we know God wants us to we don't have to feel on our own. It was because Jesus was tempted that he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2:15)
Jesus' inner resolve came out of a firm, rich, deep understanding of his identity in God. We can find help in temptation as we slowly but surely discover more and more of our identity in God. It takes time, but is the source of inner-resolve.
We can work on this ourselves through reading the bible and praying yes. But also in talking through the things that trouble us with our youth group leaders, people we trust. In more complicated areas counselling and prayer help us work out areas of our identity and bring truth into them.
In all of it, we see the focus of life not being to "resist temptation" more than we do to press into our identity and what God says about us.
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