Temptation

The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. [Luke 8.13]

As I read this today, I realized that temptation is not only the inclination to commit an act of disobedience to God, but also the inclination to doubt God.

Many people fall away from God when they are faced with their own desire to sin. This could be lying, cheating, theft, murder, greed, lust, or any number of offenses that affect only man.

However, many more people fall away for another reason. There is an offense that directly offends God Himself. That offense is doubt. More times than not, doubt manifests through fear.

When God's Word comes to a person, there is joy. However, it is usually not a matter of "if" but "when" that temptation will follow that joy. This is what Jesus was talking about in the passage above - and while temptation may come in the form of self-seeking pleasures, it more often attacks in the realm of fear that leads to doubt.

The fear that leads to doubt could be a bill, a sickness, or any problem that would encourage us to seek out and rely on human help (including our own) and not God's! This is not to say that God will not use human help in our lives, but merely to point out that if we seek human help first, then we have interrupted God's Kingdom work in our lives.

Anything that causes us not to seek the Kingdom of God first is temptation.

Father, I want my life to be good soil for Your Kingdom to grow in. Help me to face the many temptations that come my way with confident and dedicated faith that You are my God and that You are my everything and that You desire for me to look first to You!