Most of us want to avoid temptations, to have them locked
away, so that way we don’t succumb to them.
This week I was reading all about our illegal use of mobile
phones whilst driving. To avoid the
temptation to just take a peek who’s calling us the author suggested the ‘glove’
compartment should become the ‘phone’ compartment. At the start of every trip, he wrote, we
ought to lock our phones away so that if they are out of sight, they won’t
tempt us.
Now all of this is fine and makes eminent sense, that is
until we start reading about Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness. At this point in his ministry, right at the
beginning, it seems as if Jesus is positively seeking temptation. He goes out to deliberately meet it. It’s as he confronts it that he learns much
about both himself and God. These
wilderness encounters with pride, power and idolatry begin to define who Jesus
is and what his message is about. In
saying ‘no’ to the abuse of power for selfish gain we get those first glimpses
of a Kingdom of compassion, love, justice and generosity.
Of course, both ways may be right at different
phases of our own lives. There will be
times when it’s good for us to confront our temptations, to face up to them and
push them away. At other moments our
prayer will understandable be for God not to ‘bring us to a time of trial’.
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