Passages For Spiritual Reflection

As a Matter of Faith 

(Reference –Matthew 4: 1-11)    So Jesus’ earthly ministry continues and he is led into the dessert where he bumps into guess who, Satan. Well, one of the purposes of this trial by temptation offered by Satan was for us to see that Jesus was the son of God and could resist temptation, evil, and sin. It was also God’s plan to demonstrate by example that Jesus, also in human flesh, can resist the temptations of the Devil, as we should all. After fasting for forty days Jesus had to be super hungry but refused Satan’s scheme to discredit Jesus’ ministry by suggesting Jesus turn the stones to bread. Now that has to be a very darn hard thing to do when you’re that hungry and if you have the power to quell your hunger instantly like Jesus could of. But Jesus would not give in! We do know that Satan knows Scripture very well. The Devil knows it better than we do as a matter of fact and he even attempted to Slant and Spin the Scripture to Jesus in his endeavor to have Jesus cave. And we should all remember that Satan continues this ploy on us today!  

  As we enter into the Lenten season, a symbolic gesture that has been traditionalized in most Christian Faiths is the “Giving Up” of a particular desire or temptation to demonstrate our ability to obey Gods will and not Satan’s. Whether you recognize it or not, Satan is using his Slant and Spin tactics with us here during Lent. The Devil would like to see if we can fool ourselves first, and  let us then try to “Con” God into thinking we are demonstrating our faith in earnest. Let’s face it people: giving up chocolate cake, coke, or beer for Lent are pretty darn easy things to do. Why do we select things to give up at Lent that we fabricate in our heads to be substantial? Especially when we know that there are habits or temptations we are in danger with which are of substance and consequential in fulfilling a true demonstration of our Faith.     

  I knew a guy once, a married man with three children, who was so proud of himself for giving up smoking for Lent. Meanwhile, he continued in his unfaithfulness to his marriage by pursuing the attention of one of his female associates. Who is he trying to fool?  Certainly not God!  

  How about this one; a young Mother I knew had a severe problem with spending.  A “shop-a-holic” you might say but her spending habits were leading her family finances to ruin. She turned her credit cards over to her husband, but only for Lent! She expected them back after words probably returning to her bad practices. Nice try! But Jesus is expecting us to sustain our intentions and just not suspend them for a short time in order for us to “fake ourselves out”, gee what a good Christian I am!     

I also know a guy who lives in New Orleans. Looks and acts like a good Christian.  He goes to Church every week. He is very active in Church programs and all that kind of stuff until . . . Madras-Gras! He views “Fat Tuesday”, the day before Ash Wednesday, as the last opportunity to sin for forty days. Does he think its okay to sin before and after? Where does he get that Spin from? Certainly not Jesus.   

  So what am I driving at? It is really very simple. We should use the Lenten season as the onset for a renewed relationship with Christ. We should demonstrate our willingness to obey God our Lord by proving that we can resist the temptations of Satan and not fall prey to Satan’s tricks. We do this with real, substantial, meaningful sacrifices or changes that we can sustain; rather than miniscule tokens that are superficial, short lived and designed by the Devil to have us falsely believe we are following the ways of Christ.  

© Phillip E. Sorant ******* 2008