We talked about the nature of temptation and this key question: Does God lead us into temptation? That's a difficult question. We had people land in different spots so I want to see where you land. Have you thought more about it since Tuesday? If you weren't able to join us, what do you think?
One key point that came out about the prayer - we couldn't hardly pray, "Lord, lead me into temptation in order to prove myself righteous." That is sort of like praying, "Hallowed be my name..."
How does this truth continue to work in you? Would anyone be brave enough to share ways that you are tempted and how are you able to overcome those temptations? Use this space to continue to engage God's Word.
3 comments:
It seems to me that ultimately temptation would be to lead us to love or depend on something other than Christ. This makes so much sense when we look at the temptation of Christ himself. He had been fasting for 40 days and then was reminded by satan that he had the power to turn rocks into bread to eat them. I think if I had been in this kind of a situation, I could have talked myself into why it would be a good idea to seek nourishment. The amazing part here is that simply bc the Son loved the Father, he refused to take a way that did not line up with what he was supposed to do- even if it included suffering.
Then Satan offered Jesus a way to build himself up here on earth. This one is hard to swallow- even scripture was used against him. I think this is a good picture of it can be easy to sometimes use scripture as an excuse for why we do something we know is not the will of God. Yet, here Christ once again lays himself down and doesn’t cling to the idea of letting the world see how powerful he is by impressing them with show, but instead through the gravity of the cross.
Finally, satan asks Christ to worship him. I think this one is another example of an easy way out. Christ knows that he must die, and here is an opportunity to get out of suffering. But the trust that God knows exactly what he is doing is enough to stand up against these temptations. All of these temptations seem to be over small issues, but when looking deeper, it becomes obvious that any one of these would have changed the course of the cross- and in result, our salvation. Even when temptation seems to be over something mundane, it usually leads to a road of pain and putting anything before God is a recipe for this.
James 3:16 says, "For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice"
And then 1 Cor 14:33 says, "For God is not a God of disorder but of peace"
In application to what we talked about, I agree that it goes back to relationship. Praying to be brought into temptation seems to rely on self- instead of on God. And all of these temptations were ways to rely or depend on something other than God. It makes sense that we would be told to pray this way because it is recognition that we rely on God. I think this also could be praying for His kingdom to come. One day, temptation will no longer be an issue. This is incredible to think about.
Kailin,
Thanks for your thoughts about temptation! I appreciated your comment, "Even mundane temptations lead to a road of pain." I would agree with this and would add that even the mundane temptations (if given into) can be disastrous to our walk with God because they are attacking something much larger than what's on the surface.
Thanks again for your thoughts.
My church also just finished the Lord's Prayer series. I find it interesting that my small group also grappled with the same question, "Does God lead us into temptation?" What a wild ride that was! We came to the Biblical conclusion that God does not tempt us. But where does He lead us? Shortly after Jesus was baptized he was led by the spirit into the desert to be tempted...Maybe that was a particular time and event only for Jesus. I do believe that God allows us to be tempted and through that temptation we do realize that no burden is to great and God always provides a way out for us. We just need to find it and take it. I told a guy in my small group that if he ever needed a way out, I would be his way out. We all agreed that not only do we need God to carry us, we need each other.
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