Temptations

My temptations are not the same now as they were many years ago before Christ came into my life. Back then, temptation was more about overt sin, those carnal “I-wants” that most people would say were sin. These days, they are far more subtle. 

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:14–15)

Temptation is an appeal made to human desires. If I want pleasure, or comfort, or more, or the best, I can be tempted to say and do many things that I ought not do. However, as Christ works in my life, my desires have become fewer and less about the world. I am less interested in “bigger, better, more” yet temptations have increased. They just come at a different angle.

These days, the evil one tries to pull me away from what God has given me through faith. Satan wants me to doubt that God loves and wants the best for me. He wants me to think that my life as a follower of Jesus Christ is pitiful and difficult. He wants me to think the blessings of God are coincidences or things that I have earned. He wants me discontent and without any fruit of the Spirit that blesses me and those around me. He wants me to quit, not care, not pray. The list is long and every day, he seems to come up with a new one.

Today I read that Satan’s focus is not so much to get me to do wrong as to keep me from being useful to God. He tries to shift my point of view so that I focus on things that do not matter. Without the voice of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, I’m not sure I would even recognize this as temptation, other than it seems to be relentless. The more I want to serve God, the more I find ideas and excuses flying into my mind that suggest I should stop doing so. This is war, yet God does not leave me without resources. 

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14–16)

Jesus Himself was tempted. Right after His baptism, He was “led by the Spirit into the wilderness” for this very thing. It was important that His calling to bear the sin of the world not be sidetracked, so right up front, He was tested and stood the test. He refused to bow to Satan’s offers, keeping His focus on His divine commission.

I relate to this testing. God has work for me to do, less demanding for sure, yet each day I am tempted to toss in the towel. Prayer is hard work. Reading the Word of God and doing what it says is hard work. Loving as He loves most often requires sacrifice. Serving others can be thankless. Instead of doing what God wants, I could write a bumper sticker that says, “I would rather be. . . .” and fill in the blank with a host of non-sinful activities that have little to do with obedience and advancing the kingdom of God.

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Lord God, You know that daily life happens to everyone. Many daily needs must be taken care of, like cooking, cleaning and pulling weeds. But when Satan tempts me to think this is all that I need to do, or that You do not care if I waste my time doing them, I need to remember what Jesus did with His daily life. I need to pay attention. Being responsible for the daily stuff is one thing; it is part of Your calling on my life, but Satan can also use it to draw me away from living more like Jesus lived. He tries to substitute “okay stuff” for total obedience — and I need Your grace to choose and live in total surrender and obedience to Your will.

To live is Christ — with every part of me

Yesterday’s experience at church challenged me and filled my heart with worship. The preacher showed how God shapes His people to serve Him. Everything about each Christian is part of His plan that we might be His servants.

He used an acrostic, SPENT, to help his listeners remember that we are uniquely equipped.

S stands for spiritual gifts. Romans 12:6 says, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith.” He used other verses to show that every Christian has been given at least one spiritual gift, not for ourselves, but to serve others.

P stands for passion. Using 1 Corinthians 3:5-6, he did a little skit to show how Paul and Apollos may have talked about what each considered their passion for serving. I can readily identify with the variety in God’s family concerning the desire to do things for God. Besides, the world is full of needs. No one person is able to bear the burden for all of them so “God gives us the desires of our hearts” (Psalm 37:4) in a variety of ways to cover those needs.

E is about experience. From Philippians 1:19 and other Bible verses, the preacher illustrated how God uses our experiences with Him throughout our lives to shape how we think and give us confidence in doing His will.

N is for natural talents, things we were born with like art, music, skill with numbers, athletics, even talkativeness. (See Exodus 31:2-5) These are also part of God’s plan in making me into the person He wants me to be.

T stands for temperament, my personality. He uses introverts one way, extroverts another. Am I flexible, consistent, level-headed, emotional, quiet, talkative? All of what makes me who I am is part of God’s plan. Psalm 139 is all about how God knew me before I was born, encouraging me in accepting who I am.

A sermon like this is hard for a person my age. I have been a Christian for a long time, yet have regrets and things I wish I could do over. Also, some of the examples in the sermon made me feel as if I was too old to be involved in anything major. This message was a big challenge.

Yet it was also encouraging because the words never made anyone feel left out or unimportant. Each believer is part of what God is doing, from parking attendants to those who clean up after coffee is served. I don’t have to write a hundred books or disciple dozens of new Christians. I just have to do what God asks me to do, and realize that He has shaped me to do it. This means accepting who I am, what I have gone through so far, and even accepting that He is using the mistakes that I’ve made as part of His construction process.

This is directly related to the verse that again is given for today’s devotional reading. God has equipped me so that I might be able to . . .  

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)

I’m not able to bear all the burdens of everyone, but there will always be a few areas where I can be of service because of the way God has SPENT time, effort, and the power of His Holy Spirit shaping my life.

The most fascinating part of this message was not just that it builds confidence regarding obedience, but it left both my husband and me in awe of God. As the words sunk into our hearts, we thought of all the permutations and combinations of those five areas in individual lives, then multiplied that by the millions who follow Christ. What an amazing God — He uniquely equips every single person to be part of His plan for this world.

For me, the practical part is very simple. To live is Christ means accepting that He has SPENT so much, including the life of His Son, to make me what I am. All I need to do is let Him direct the use of it in service to Him.