Temptation…

•February 17, 2010 • Leave a Comment

It was Oscar Wilde who said, “I can resist everything except temptation”.

That little thought that once it’s in our minds, we just can’t get rid of.  Go on … just one; …no one will know; …what will it matter anyway; …you know you want to.

Temptation – the seduction, the pull, the lure.  Knowing you shouldn’t – but…

Temptation is where Jesus ministry starts.  After the story of his birth, childhood and his baptism, this is the first thing that happens.  Luke tells us that Jesus returns from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit, and is led by the Spirit into the desert.

It is while he is in the Desert that the Devil shows up, and decides he is going to test Jesus – to tempt him to take the wrong path, to go about it all the wrong way.

Jesus is in the desert to have some time apart, and at this point he has to make decisions on what the foundation for his ministry is going to be.  Is he going to do it God’s way, the way he has been called to – or is he going to be led into doing it another way, taking the path that is not God’s, and therefore ultimately not achieving what God wants to do.

The devil challenges Jesus in three different ways:

  • To turn a stone into bread.  Provide for yourself, look to the physical things.  You’re hungry, you can make something happen yourself.
  • To worship the devil – that he might receive the world.
  • To throw himself down, because surely God would look after him anyway.  Take ridiculous risks, try and make God to act.

All these were to try and make him choose the way that wasn’t God’s way.

  • God would feed Jesus, but bread is not all he needed.  Spiritual needs are important too – and they won’t be met by taking short cuts, or focussing solely on the physical.
  • God would meet his every need.  Jesus would receive the world and more – the reality of it, not the poor shadow the devil was offering that might seem so attractive, but is inconsequential in the greater scheme of things.
  • God will save Jesus, but not by him jumping off a cliff.  He will do much more in saving Jesus in a way that will save the whole world too.

The devil will come to us in different guises, and with different challenges – but the challenge is always the same.  To do things God’s way, or to take a different path.  We need to decide which we are going to do, whose voice and challenge we are going to answer.  Is the basis for our lives to be the way of God, or not?

There are many different things that can lead us astray.  Something that may seem better, easier, more useful.  But if it is not God’s way, then ultimately it is not the right way to go – however tempting.

Temptation – you CAN take it or leave it.

Keep us from Temptation.

May we look to God, who gives us everything we need,  not just what we think we might like at this moment; who will give us the whole world and more, as we serve and worship him; and who will take care of us as we walk in his ways.

Posted in lent, response
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Spring cleaning

•February 17, 2010 • Leave a Comment

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Day.

Pancakes came from the tradition of giving something up for Lent.  Eating pancakes was the way to get rid of all those things that you would give up – so that they weren’t in the cupboard tempting you.

I’m not a huge fan of giving something up for Lent – I prefer to take something useful on.  But it is important I think to take the opportunity to take time and reflect, and see what God is saying to us, where he is leading us. Whether we give something up for Lent or not, it is no bad thing to have the ‘spring clean’, to look in the cupboards of our lives and see what is there, and what should be there.

When I went to my cupboard to get out the ingredients for the pancakes, I found that my flour was actually out of date anyway.  I needed to get it out of my cupboard and get rid of it.  A good root through the cupboards also reminds us of the things that are missing.  My husband asked where the marmalade was – I was sure there was some in the cupboard, but there wasn’t – some more needed to be bought.  And you never know just what you might find!  Right at the back of the cupboard, hidden in a corner were some chocolates left over from Christmas – a treat waiting to be found.  Taking a good look lets you know where you are.

The same applies with our lives if we take a look through them.  We may find things that would be better not there.  We may discover some things are missing, and be able to put it right.  And we might find some good things that we had forgotten about.  We won’t know if we don’t take that time to stop and look.

Lent is traditionally a time to prepare for Easter.  Methodist Worship Book, in it’s pre-amble in the service for Ash Wednesday says…

Sisters and brothers in Christ, since early days Christians have observed with great devotion the time of our Lord’s passion, death and resurrection. It is the custom of the Church to prepare for this by a season of penitence and self-denial.

At first, this season of Lent was observed by those being prepared for Baptism at Easter and by those seeking restoration to the Church’s fellowship. In the course of time, all Christians were invited to keep these days carefully, to take to heart the call to repentance, to receive the assurance of forgiveness proclaimed in the Gospel, and so to grow in faith and devotion to our Lord.

In the name of Christ, therefore, I invite you to observe this holy season of Lent, by prayer, self-denial and charitable giving; by self-examination and repentance; and by reading and meditating on God’s word. (p141)

Lent remembers the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness.  Preparing for his future, working out who and what his priorities were – and then he could go and do what he needed to, what he was called to.    It was for him, a time of contemplation, reflection and preparation.  Lent, then offers to us the same opportunity of contemplation, reflection and preparation.  An opportunity to join with Jesus on his retreat, if we wish to take it as such.  We too can take the opportunity to spend that time with God, looking at our lives and looking to our future.  Strengthened for the journey ahead, getting ready for Easter and the new life of spring.

In the Early Church, the focus of Lent was to:

  • A time for new converts to prepare for their baptism – on Easter Day.  To have intensive classes and teaching, before their important step.  In about AD 350, Bishop Cyril of Jerusalem told those about to be baptized, “You have a long period of grace, forty days for repentance.”
  • It was time for long-standing Christians to review their lives and renew their commitment to Christ.  By the time of Augustine, Lent had become a time of preparation for all Christians, baptized or not, in that “part of the year…adjoining and touching with the Passion”
  • It was time for backsliders to be restored to the faith – remembering always that Easter signifies the possibility of new life for everyone.

From his time alone, Jesus went to begin the task God had called him to – to call the people to repent.  Spending time alone with God, not only gives us the space to think, but also the strength to respond.

My old computer used to  flash up with a message, “Low resources”.  There was not enough power in the computer to do all the things I was trying to do on it.  Lent is a time to take a check on our spiritual resources – to recharge our spiritual batteries.  Jesus’ time with God was his resource.  Our time with God can be our resource.  Yes there may be lots to do, but aren’t they done better having spent some time allowing God to fill us and equip us?

Time with God is precious – he wants to challenge us and empower us – but it needs us to be close enough for us to do it.

So whether we are familiar with a Lenten observance or not, it does us no harm – and a lot of good – to take some time to be with God.  To reflect on our lives, taking the time to work through where our certainties and our loyalties lie; to bring to God our confession, to seek his forgiveness and seek to turn our lives in the direction he asks us.

Posted in lent, life
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How much do I love you?

•February 13, 2010 • Leave a Comment

A thought for Valentines Day, and a weekend of love.  The shops are crammed with all manner of gifts, declaring love, but there is so much more to love than that – and more kinds of love.

I’ve had this in my files for years, but it still seems to capture the depth of God’s love.  Unfortunately I’ve got no idea where I got it from, or who wrote it – if you know, please let me know.

How much do I love you my child?

Enough to let you go.  Enough to let you fall,

enough to let you make your own decisions if you so desire.

I love you enough to let you hurt me, to let you turn away,

to let you make your own mistakes.

I love you enough to never force myself upon you,

to not intrude when you choose to look away.

I love you enough to wait patiently at your side

and watch with sadness when you stumble.

I love you enough to long for you to turn to me,

to talk with me, to share with me the joys and sorrows of your life.

I love you enough to forgive you when you’ve hurt me,

enough to wash you clean when you’ve hurt yourself.

I love you enough to look forward with you

and not to look back at you,

enough to plan ahead

knowing that you will leave me out of some of the most precious moments

we’ve planned together.

How much do I love you my child?

I love you enough to hold you, to hug you,

to comfort you when you need me.

I love you enough to prompt others,

to cause circumstances to work together to meet your needs.

I love you enough to be your shoulder to cry on, without searching for words,

enough to carry you when you can’t go on,

to support you when no-one else can, when nothing else makes sense.

How much do I love you my child?

Enough to give my son for you, that you may walk in freedom,

that you may come so close to me that you feel my breath upon you.

I love you enough to be your constant guide and friend,

to never tire of being with you;

Enough to want the very best for you;

to want you to be the very most of the person you were meant to be.

Enough even to be what you need me to be.

I love you enough to look back in your time, my timelessness,

to heal the hurt child within your adult frame.

Enough to reach in and put the past to right, that you may grow;

Enough to want you whole, trusting in me for each new day.

I love you my child, I always have, I always will,

Enough to want to share my life with you for ever.

Posted in love
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