Thursday, January 03, 2008
Temptation (Genesis 3-5, Luke 2)
Scripture: If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." (Genesis 4:7)
Observation: Shaw once said that things that were bad for him never tempted him- basically he had given into every sort of temptation and embraced gluttony as a way of live. Some times this seems easier. Temptation can be subtle. Or overt. Often I invite it in. Rick Warren says that every time we give in to temptation its because we believe that it’s a belief; that I believe that cheating, etc., will benefit me.
Application: I need to understand that temptation is common to all (even Jesus!) and that it (or the enemy) seeks to break the fellowship that God wants to have with me by being distracted and distanced from God as I pursue it.
Prayer: Lord help me to believe that your ways are the best ways. That I do not have to try to cut corners or give in to what’s easy or comfortable. Thank you for loving me even through failure and forgiving me when I fall. Help me to want to do right. Help me to trust you as my strength and comforter. Thank you for the birth of Jesus!
Observation: Shaw once said that things that were bad for him never tempted him- basically he had given into every sort of temptation and embraced gluttony as a way of live. Some times this seems easier. Temptation can be subtle. Or overt. Often I invite it in. Rick Warren says that every time we give in to temptation its because we believe that it’s a belief; that I believe that cheating, etc., will benefit me.
Application: I need to understand that temptation is common to all (even Jesus!) and that it (or the enemy) seeks to break the fellowship that God wants to have with me by being distracted and distanced from God as I pursue it.
Prayer: Lord help me to believe that your ways are the best ways. That I do not have to try to cut corners or give in to what’s easy or comfortable. Thank you for loving me even through failure and forgiving me when I fall. Help me to want to do right. Help me to trust you as my strength and comforter. Thank you for the birth of Jesus!
