The Appeal of Temptation

My kid sister, who passed away last December, always had a way of looking at temptation. She always felt that if the temptation was there in front of her, then God wouldn't mind her giving in. Of course, me being the "big sister," I had to spoil her fun and explain that it is not the way things work. Wouldn't it be nice, though, and lots of fun, if it did work that way?

When I think about temptation, I think about the Garden of Eden. That piece of fruit must have been tempting to Adam and Eve in two ways. I'll bet that fruit was juicy and ripe and very delicious in appearance. Add to that, God dangled the full knowledge of good and evil in front of them - I'll bet they thought that eating that fruit would put them on the same level as God. They weren't very smart, IMHO.

Temptation is always, well, tempting. I do have something that I fall back on, many times. In the Lord's Prayer, at the end, we ask that we not be led into temptation and that we be delivered from evil. The way I look at it, God is always there for us, for me. When I say that prayer, at the end, I always try to remember to add, "...and remind me at the time of temptation, that you will deliver me from it, if I ask it of you." The times that I do remember to ask, I find that I can resist whatever that temptation is.

It doesn't matter if it's something minor or something major. It can be something that I know I should not have now that I'm trying to avoid meds for my borderline diabetes. It can be something immoral. It probably won't be illegal - I'm sort of hesitant to do anything that will get me in trouble with man's law. Hmmm - now there's something interesting for a future post - why am I more afraid of man's law than I often am of God's law?

Anyway, there's no denying temptation is magnetic, a draw, a dare or challenge. There's also no denying that we do not have to give in to it, just because it's there.

Dear God, thank you for reminding us in the Lord's Prayer that you understand what temptation is all about, and that you will deliver us from that evil, if we just take a moment to ask for your help.