More About Staying on the Cross
The high priests, along with the religion scholars and leaders, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him:..."King of Israel is he? Then let him get down from that cross. We'll all become believers then!" Matt. 27:41, 42, Message.
For the past two days we have been meditating upon the great TEMPTATION that leads to all the lesser temptations of life. In essence that TEMPTATION is to become the god of our lives, to do our own will. That is where Adam and Eve went wrong. The eating of the fruit was only the result of a minor temptation after they had already fallen for Satan's great TEMPTATION.
Christ, as we noted earlier, experienced that TEMPTATION in two formats: not going to the cross, and not staying on it. Today we will examine more fully how the second aspect of TEMPTATION plays out in our daily life when we are tempted to get off our cross, break our relationship with God, and do our own thing.
I have known for years that I cannot sincerely pray and commit a deliberate act of sin at the same moment. I have experimented. Temptation becomes sin at the point that I become conscious of the temptation. At that very moment I can choose to do one of two things. I can reject the temptation through God's power, or I can decide to dwell on the temptation and cherish it a bit. In other words, I can ask God into my life to help me overcome, or I can tell Him to leave me alone for a while so that I can enjoy my private sin. I comfort myself that I will pray about it later. Too often, we are like Augustine, who, in suffering with the central temptation of his life, prayed, "Make me chaste, Lord, but not quite yet."
The alternative is to come to God, saying, "Lord, I recognize this temptation for what it is, and I am going to pray right now." I have personally discovered that when I sincerely and perseveringly pray for victory, I lose the desire for the sinful action. I believe that phenomenon is the power of God helping me overcome both the specific temptation and the TEMPTATION to get off my cross and live my life according to my own will.
But sometimes, to be honest, I don't want the power and the victory. Instead, I want the sin. At that point, I fall for TEMPTATION in the same way that Eve did in Genesis 3. I have taken active charge of my own life and sidelined God. To consistently choose TEMPTATION leads to a life of falling for temptations as I separate myself from God.
The high priests, along with the religion scholars and leaders, were right there mixing it up with the rest of them, having a great time poking fun at him:..."King of Israel is he? Then let him get down from that cross. We'll all become believers then!" Matt. 27:41, 42, Message.
For the past two days we have been meditating upon the great TEMPTATION that leads to all the lesser temptations of life. In essence that TEMPTATION is to become the god of our lives, to do our own will. That is where Adam and Eve went wrong. The eating of the fruit was only the result of a minor temptation after they had already fallen for Satan's great TEMPTATION.
Christ, as we noted earlier, experienced that TEMPTATION in two formats: not going to the cross, and not staying on it. Today we will examine more fully how the second aspect of TEMPTATION plays out in our daily life when we are tempted to get off our cross, break our relationship with God, and do our own thing.
I have known for years that I cannot sincerely pray and commit a deliberate act of sin at the same moment. I have experimented. Temptation becomes sin at the point that I become conscious of the temptation. At that very moment I can choose to do one of two things. I can reject the temptation through God's power, or I can decide to dwell on the temptation and cherish it a bit. In other words, I can ask God into my life to help me overcome, or I can tell Him to leave me alone for a while so that I can enjoy my private sin. I comfort myself that I will pray about it later. Too often, we are like Augustine, who, in suffering with the central temptation of his life, prayed, "Make me chaste, Lord, but not quite yet."
The alternative is to come to God, saying, "Lord, I recognize this temptation for what it is, and I am going to pray right now." I have personally discovered that when I sincerely and perseveringly pray for victory, I lose the desire for the sinful action. I believe that phenomenon is the power of God helping me overcome both the specific temptation and the TEMPTATION to get off my cross and live my life according to my own will.
But sometimes, to be honest, I don't want the power and the victory. Instead, I want the sin. At that point, I fall for TEMPTATION in the same way that Eve did in Genesis 3. I have taken active charge of my own life and sidelined God. To consistently choose TEMPTATION leads to a life of falling for temptations as I separate myself from God.
RSS Feed
