Scripture
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. Luke 4:13-14

Observation
“We carry temptation’s source within us.” I read those words today in The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis. I think that sums it up very well.

It seems to me that Jesus’ temptation revolved around his call. He was the Son of God. From him would come miracles, like the feeding of the 5,000. He will one day be acclaimed, “King of kings and Lord of lords.” He has been lifted up from the earth and become irresistibly attractive.

And yet for all of the outcomes of his call, Christ was, like every human, required to undergo a process of discovering and developing his call. Satan offered him something like jet travel at 32,000 feet to fast track over all of the obstacles and to achieve an outcome. Instead, Jesus chose, as it were, to walk on foot on ground level through the hardest road to achieve all that he was called to do.

Temptation at once alerts me to my call and draws me away from it. The choice to push through and to follow the call God has for my life, is the very thing that strengthens it. Every Christian has been called, therefore, every believer will be tempted to take shortcuts.

Temptation is at once an indication of Satan’s fear of me and most of all God’s great love and admiration of me. (See Job 1). What I make of temptation is my gift to God.

Application
How do I overcome temptation? By acknowledging that I will always be tempted and so keep on alert. When I think I won’t be is when I’m most likely to be lured into sin. To let the sense of weakness send me running to Jesus, instead of trying to be strong on my own. To identify more clearly from the word of God the call of God on my life. To let temptation lead me to worship, for the fallacy of temptation is to think that God has had enough with me, when in fact he loves my dependance. To let temptation strengthen Christian community, by sending me to my closest friends while the temptation is strongest. In so doing our relationships are strengthened. Most of all, in temptation to make the choice to stand against the tempter and through resisting to gain strength from my enemy.

Prayer
Father, lead me not into temptation, but when you do make the most of it by delivering me from evil. Amen.