No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can endure it. - 1 Corinthians 10:13
Temptation comes at us all the time, especially when your own spirituality and Christianity is at a point when we are “comfortable with God.” What I mean is that point when we become comfortable with our relationship with God, and we might stop growing or seeking. We may find ourselves in a position of stagnation in faith. Much like a pond that has nothing to move it around it become stagnant and forms of scum or undesirable stuff begins to grow. Likewise, when we are not seeking after Christ alone, or having anything added to our faith, we may find bad habits, or laziness, or any other unhealthy opportunities catch up to us and find ways to temp us away from Christ. Our human might take over, and even though we are moving or busy, undesirable stuff grows in our lives.
The power that we have over such temptation is to continue to move towards God through our relationship with His Son, Jesus. In Jesus we can find solace, community, and the power to stay away from sin. Jesus is the “way out.” He covered our sin once and for all; therefore, He can keep us from temptation as we trust in his grace and mercy. Jesus stirs the waters of our souls and helps to filter out the undesirable stuff so that we can move towards becoming a stream of living water. We may endure many temptations that are thrown our way, and sometimes even falter, but we will be lifted up because “love holds no record of wrongs” (1 Cor. 13:5). When our true love, Jesus, is our focus, no temptation can overtake us, even though they will remain present.
The temptation to give up on many aspects of faith has be very present this year, we were closed to gather for almost 6 months, we may have feel we lost track of one another for a bit. We may have had difficulty with the technology of gathering remotely, online. The temptation could be for us to give up. Yet, God does not give up on us, God is still seeing us through, and God has made a way even in the midst of a pandemic for us to share our faith in community. It might not be “like it always has been,” but still God is who God has always been, offering us grace, mercy, peace through Christ Jesus, and drawing us ever forward in love. May the God of peace lift you from temptation, and lead you to join with the saints above and below, in spirit and truth.
Grace & Peace,
Sam