Pastor’s Lenten Devotional – Day 5

I preached this morning on the subject of temptation, following the temptations of Jesus in the 4th chapter of Luke.  I’ve got a lot of questions about that story — the fact that it’s one of the few stories in Scripture where Jesus is alone (so how do we know the story happened that way?  I guess he must’ve told somebody).  The story says that he was tempted by the devil for 40 days and nights, but we only hear about the temptations at the end of that time.  The role of the devil is interesting, too.  If you look at the book of Job in the Hebrew Bible, it’s obvious that he is part of God’s heavenly court, part of God’s Kingdom and God’s plan.  Maybe the role of the devil in our lives is to provide the temptations, the options, the choices, whereby we might choose God’s way (assuming we can discern God’s way) over the other ways that take us away from God. 

Most sin, if not all of it, is in idolatry:  Putting other things in front of and ahead of God in our lives.  I personally think that God uses the sin of who we are to remind us that we need God; that’s pretty clear in the Scriptures, too. 

The tough part is discerning what God wants, but mostly, I think, God wants us to trust God, God’s love for us and God’s care for us.  That’s a lot of work, particularly with all the temptations to put our faith in the many other things of life and living.  I keep working at it!