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Whichever version of the Lord’s Prayer you say, the request is the same; we ask God to be our strength and guide when we’re faced with temptation and sin. The realities of temptation and sin are very apparent today. Temptation and sin are part of human nature. They’re part of our nature because we’ve been given the gift of free will. With that gift of free will comes the responsibility of choice. We can choose to do good or evil, and we have to admit we all would have at some point made our choice. We all do; there’s no getting around it. There is that bit about the tree in the middle of the garden (Genesis 3); Adam and Eve were historical figures, in human nature who made a choice. The knowledge referred to was not limited to moral knowledge; rather, it was the tree used as a metaphor of knowing all that it was possible to know. It is not that trying to discern between good and evil is somehow wrong or at least prohibited, rather the point is — trying to have all knowledge is grasping to be God, to be without limit. That may be God’s warning to the prideful who desire infallible greed in our modern time.
The good news is the incarnation. In Jesus we have our model, our guide in how to resist temptation for one thing, but even more importantly that when we do sin, we are always given the chance to repent. We can picture the desert and Jesus being almost dead after 40 days of fasting. The tempter tries to get Jesus to turn stones to bread. Then we see the tempter coming and taking him to a pinnacle of the temple. But again, Jesus doesn’t give in. Jesus affirms only God is worthy of humankind’s worship. The temptations that the tempter offered Jesus weren’t, in truth, the tempter’s to offer. There are many things in both passages that teach us, but importantly, we must focus today on faithfulness. If Adam and Eve had been obedient to what God asked of them, like Jesus, they would have been able to resist the temptation to sin.
Lent is a wonderful time to re-read these scripture stories, to remember what we’ve learned and what they still teach us. It’s a time to set aside our distractions with intentional focus on Jesus. Lent is a time to pray for a renewal of faith. It is about restoration, obedience, and the invitation to participate in God’s great plan.
The realities of temptation and sin are very apparent in our life. Pray, Almight God, come quickly to help me turn away from temptations because you know our weaknesses. Let each one believe, be faithful and obedient to your will. Amen.
Rev. Carole M. Moore, Assistant Pastor
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