Resisting Temptation

How do we prepare ourselves to resist temptations?

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him. - Matthew 4:1-11

The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

Sounds deliberate, doesn't it?

In a way, it makes sense.  One way to build up your resistance to temptation, is to expose yourself to it.  By going into the wilderness to fast for forty days, Jesus was pretty much guaranteed to be tempted.

I wonder if the tempter here did not appear from within rather than from without.

That is how temptation works in us, isn't it?  We come up with these thoughts and they begin to rationalize themselves within our minds.

Could these have been thoughts Jesus had all along?

It can be difficult living with the knowledge that we can do anything and be saved, which is exactly what Jesus told us.  If we turn to God and truly repent, He will save us, even if we had done horrible things.  

So, that is the condition.  We cannot do something wrong to test God's grace.  That isn't the way salvation and forgiveness works.

Jesus said, "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."

If we do, we run the risk of having God ignore our pleas for help.  He wouldn't ignore us, we hope, but why test it?

So, in today's Gospel, Jesus shows us the way to avoid temptation.  By subjecting ourselves to it, we can call upon our strength to defeat it.

That's a lot like exercising, isn't it.  The more we do it, the stronger we become.

More to come...