Temptation and the Cleansing Gift

Prayer-Soldier

Temptation and the Cleansing Gift

Scripture:

And the Lord God formed man of the slime of the earth: and breathed into his face the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God had planted a paradise of pleasure from the beginning: wherein he placed man whom he had formed. And the Lord God brought forth of the ground all manner of trees, fair to behold, and pleasant to eat of: the tree of life also in the midst of paradise: and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why has God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise? And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God has commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die. And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death. For God does know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil. And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband, who did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 2:7-9)

Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world and by sin death: and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned. For until the law sin was in the world: but sin was not imputed, when the law was not. But death reigned from Adam unto Moses, even over them also who have not sinned, after the similitude of the transgression of Adam, who is a figure of him who was to come. But not as the offense, so also the gift. For if by the offense of one, many died: much more the grace of God and the gift, by the grace of one man, Jesus Christ, has abounded unto many. And not as it was by one sin, so also is the gift. For judgment indeed was by one unto condemnation: but grace is of many offenses unto justification. For if by offense of one man death reigned through one; much more they who receive abundance of grace and of the gift and of justice shall reign in life through one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offense of one, unto all men to condemnation: so also by the justice of one, unto all men to justification of life. For as by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners: so also by the obedience of one, many shall be made just. (Romans 5:12-19)

Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry. And the tempter coming said to him: If you be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Who answered and said: It is written, Not in bread alone does man live, but in every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him: If you be the Son of God, cast yourself down, for it is written: That he has given his angels charge over you, and in their hands shall they bear you up, lest perhaps you dash your foot against a stone. Jesus said to him: It is written again: You shall not tempt the Lord your God.

Again the devil took him up into a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to him: All these will I give you, if falling down you will adore me. Then Jesus said to him: Be gone, Satan: for it is written: The Lord your God shall you adore, and him only shall you serve. Then the devil left him; and behold angels came and ministered to him. (Matthew 4:1-11)

Reflection:

The arrogance of some is the belief they understand all the mysteries of the universe. From that to which they have been exposed, they speculate, theorize and determine what they believe to be fact. They study all which they can find, but fail to understand what they do not see or that there is so much they do not know. They see what is defined as life, yet struggle to comprehend the sanctity and truth of life.

So many see the universe and believe they can explain our creation, yet, can only theorize from whence came each plant of the earth and the first male and female of each creature of the sea, air and land. Some speculate they can explain all the mechanics of reproduction and evolution, but who can share as fact from whence came the first breath of the world? How many times have those who study found that those who explored before them misinterpreted what they believe they discovered? How many times have those who experimented believed that what they have found is knowledge, yet, the knowledge shared as fact was not truth? What, then, is knowledge which cannot be validated with the certainty of truth?

It was the temptation of the first man and woman which brought sin to the world. It was the first choice of the children of His creation to defy their creator and through this defiance the door to death was opened. He sent the angles and the prophets to encourage the children of His creation away from sin, but the evil one continued to stalk the people to separate them from their Creator.

Through the generations so many would fall to the ways of darkness and the path of condemnation. Blessed is the world for to free the children of His creation of sin, He sought to cleanse the world by receiving upon His shoulders the sin of the world so that in the passing from this world, the children of His creation could follow Him to His kingdom. The One without sin became the One who would assume the burden of all sin so that all who believes in Him might be cleansed of the sin which would otherwise consume them.

We must not forget that the evil one knows the Word of the Lord and all which it contains. It was through scripture which Satan tried to tempt Jesus, but the Word made flesh knew the body of the Word and the truth of the Word so that Satan could not deceive Him with clever selections of portions of the Word. To what end, then, do we leave ourselves vulnerable if we study only select portions of the Word, but fail to study the whole body of the Word?

The evil one will not come to us in ugliness so that we are aware of his deceptions. He will come to us with a smile, with outstretched hands, with small deceptions designed to divide us. He will offer scripture by which we may justify divisions and conflicts. It matters not to the evil one what causes us to neglect the commandments to love, only that we miss the mark, that we accept deceptions as fact and allow conflicts to arise from which we may harbor the wages of hate through the generations. The desire of the evil one is to blind us to the path of love.

With all which is false around us, how, then, are we to know the truth? How, then, are we to find the righteous path? How, then, are we to turn the hearts of the generations from the darkness? How, then, are we to turn away from temptation so that we may be delivered from evil? If we look across history, some have faired better than others, but it is not within our power to be perfect as He is perfect. Our only hope, then, is through Him.

Through prayer, we may find the salvation He offers. Through prayer, we may ask for discernment so that we may be guided to the truth. If we have doubts as to what is before us, we may ask Him to lead us. As we put our heart in His hands, He will not deny us. His promise was made to us upon the cross. His love was spilled out before all the generations so that through Him, we may find the path to His everlasting and eternal love.

May the peace and blessings of the Lord be with you always,
Prayer Soldier