Did you enjoy the series about the book of
James? We need to be challenged, since that is why we have the Word of God. As
a father I put challenges before my children. I have one teenage son left at
home and, as long as I have him around, I will challenge him with issues that
he will face in life, such as doing properly whatever he sets his mind to, to
persevere with what he started, to work hard and honestly when he does a job
and so on. Those who have children should know that they do not always do what
is expected of them from the first moment they are told – they need to be
encouraged and reminded.
In the same way we do not do everything we are
commanded in the Bible. For the past nearly a year the Lord prompted me to
write these challenging reminders of what He expects of us, should we desire to
obey Him and please Him. James focused a lot on sin and trials in his book and
in this message I would like to touch some more on temptation.
Temptation come in many ways and can be more
subtle than we think. We often think of temptation as we are being tempted to
eat a piece of cake that we shouldn’t and so on. We also only look out for
temptation that is obvious, such as the temptation to steal or lie. Satan and
even the sinful nature are, however, much more crafty than that. Remember we
are in a war between darkness and light, and in a war the two factions
constantly create strategies to outsmart the other. Satan or the sinful nature
will not come to us claiming ‘I am Satan and you shall sin before me’. He will
lay an ambush and a trap for us – very subtly tempting us to be disobedient and
therefore sin. Let us take the example of Jesus’ time of praying in Gethsemane
as recorded in Matthew 26:38-46.
“Then
Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to
them, ‘Sit here while I go over there and
pray.’ He took
Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful
and troubled. Then he
said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the
point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’” Do you think this
was a command Jesus gave His disciples and expected it to be obeyed? Do you
think disobeying a command of Jesus could be considered sin? We read that Jesus
went to pray and when He returned He found the disciples sound asleep. “‘Could
you men not keep watch with me for one hour?’
he asked Peter. ‘Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.
The spirit is willing, but the body is weak,’” (Matthew 26:40-41).
What
was the temptation? It was to put the needs of their bodies before those of
Jesus – to consider their own priorities more important than those of their
Lord. Satan used the needs of the sinful nature to lure them into negligence
and carelessness. This was not an obvious sin such as breaking one of the Ten Commandments,
but it was disobeying an instruction from the Commander, leading to an
ineffective army. How many of the Holy Spirit’s instructions do we ignore daily
because we only consider the needs of our flesh.
Note
the words “watch and pray”. A soldier on the battlefield, especially with guerrilla
warfare as it is done these days, has to watch out all the time and buddies
have to watch out for one another. We need to be on the lookout for temptation
in any form and expect it to be very subtle. Jesus also commanded prayer, for
the Holy Spirit is our ‘satellite’ that can see where we cannot, so if we stay
in prayer He will warn us against deceptive attacks of temptation to sin.
Why
is this so important to the Lord? It is simply because sin causes a break in
our relationship with Him and hinders our spiritual growth and efficiency.
To
be continued.
Lord,
help me to care enough about pleasing you, so I would watch and pray.
Thank you Lord that your Word went
out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you
empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which
you sent it.
Please pass this on if you think others may
benefit by it.
No comments:
Post a Comment