Temptations Are Inevitable

“Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!” -Mat. 18:7 I’m doing well this minute. This morning, however, while I stood in a good place, a tempting fantasy: a euphoric but evil memory came and sought to seize the gift of sobriety from me. Temptations still come. Sooner or later, they come for all of us. We get to participate in one of two things their coming can do for us. They can make us into warriors and deepen our trust in God to protect us from them, or we can let them conquer us, enslave us, and even make us ourselves into temptations for others. When we act out, we become part of a financial incentive machine that turns lives into ash in scenes we’re never shown. When we act out, we tell the world it’s ok and normal to act out, and so more people fall for it just as we did, and thus once they have, despair seizes them too, as it has seized us. And them and us, both seized by despair, become more isolated, more sluggish, and we all offer less to each other’s lives than we can. Let’s support each other instead of tripping each other up. Let’s all, from this minute, recommit ourselves, to do better, for the sake of both ourselves and our neighbors