A Few Brilliant Ideas...

However, there's one specific reason that temptation is dangerous. The one who is behind the tempting is dangerous. Matthew 4:3 refers to Satan as, "The tempter." Satan is an evil, extremely malicious person, that will try to tempt us away from the things of God. Satan would like nothing better than to elevate ourselves in our own minds. His goal is make us think we are God. Either this, or to make us think that we are so pitiful, so evil, so low that God would never choose to save us. He'll do anything to keep us from coming to our heavenly Father.

Temptation is real. The tempter is real. Be aware.

However, temptation is much more prevalent than we will often assume. Temptation is often found for guys in the form of lust, yes, it's true. However, we cannot limit temptation to one area. Temptation is much more than just this. Temptation exists to make us eat more than we should. Temptation exists to envy another person. Temptation exists to urge us to jump into a premature relationship. Temptation exists to make us look down ourselves, to grind ourselves in the dirt so we forget our identity in our savior. Temptation exists to feel good about ourselves and grow arrogant, losing sight of who saved us, and why we can feel confident in our savior's merit.

Temptation is everywhere. It is your friend next door who gives a bag of cookies. It is the girl or guy who smiles at you, urging you onward in your friendship. It is the person who says that your sin is: "not that big of a deal." God thinks temptation is important. The severity of God's view on temptation is seen above, "if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire." 

Even physical infirmity is better then not entering the kingdom of heaven. We must strive to avoid putting ourselves in situations which will tempt us. We must be aware of the danger that temptation poses. We must prepare ourselves to fight, for temptation will come, and, when we overcome it, we will grow.

Now that we're free, let's live like those alive.

Sincerely,

Tempted and Tempter

5 y“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, 6 butzwhoever causes one of these alittle ones who believe in me to sin,1 it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."

Today is Matthew 18. I fell asleep last night promising myself I would read my devotions when I awoke. Unfortunately I woke up at 4 PM, so here I am. This evening I was struck by the audacity of the disciples. They openly ask Jesus who is the greatest in God's kingdom for the obvious purpose, I first thought of becoming the greatest. I mean that's why I would ask. However, as I thought over the question again, it occurred to me that the disciples might be asking Jesus something much more serious. Was it possible the disciples were asking if God was the greatest in heaven? This claim was equally audacious, however, as I ponder it further, I realize this can't be the case. The context of Jesus's reply implies that the disciples question was indeed geared at the former. Besides, at this point in the scriptures the disciples would have had to be blind to realize that Jesus was not synonymous with God, what with the dove descending upon him, His commands for the winds and seas to stop, and most recently the transfiguration where he tabernacled with God, Elijah, and Moses. The disciples knew for certain that Jesus was God. Peter we know for sure as he confesses it back in Matthew 16:16 "Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”" It would be silly for the disciples to ask this question for any other reason than to find out how they could obtain greater position in God's kingdom. However, they also asserted Jesus as God, once again, for only God knows the nature of heaven.

I've often pondered what I'd ask Jesus if I ever got to meet Him on this earth. "Jesus, why did you make mosquitoes?" But honestly, this is one of the better of the disciples' questions. All over the Bible we see the questions regarding how to defeat our sin, and the answer is always to become like Christ. Since Christ, God, is the greatest in Heaven, by reason we must become more like Him. This makes Jesus's answer interesting, as it tells us a piece of the nature of God. Jesus says that only those who are like children will enter the kingdom of Heaven, however, the greatest is he who "humbles himself like this child." God is the greatest of all, because he is the one who has most greatly humbled himself. If you think the magnitude of God's glory, and how much greatly above us He is in his attributes: perfect, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. God is infinitely more glorious than we are, and yet he humbled Himself as a child, in the form of Jesus. Not only has He humbled himself into human form, but into the form of a babe in swaddling clothes, born in a stinking stable. The other day I was thinking about how different the Bible story would be if Jesus was a prince rather than a poor child. I came to the conclusion, He would no longer be God, at least not the God I know. God is the greatest because He has most greatly humbled himself. We should therefore make ourselves more like Christ, humbling ourselves to be like Him. At the Resolved retreat I just got back from, the preacher talked about Jesus washing the disciples' feet. We need to be willing to wash one another's feet, perhaps not literally, but doing equally undesirable tasks in order to humble ourselves.
God connects himself with children here, or perhaps more accurately all the virtuous traits a child has, is similar to the nature of God. God is not limited by social boundaries. He is innocent. He loves to make things. He is enthusiastic. God is childlike in nature. We should become more like Him.
The last point of the passage is God's overwhelming love for children. You can see in the passage Jesus's severe warning for someone who harms children. God has a blazing, fire-filled, passionate love for children. This is true for those who are very young, who do not belong to Him, but it is also true for those that He has adopted into His family. The church. The body of Christ. The next time you face a challenge, remember this, God has not only chosen each one of us as one of His children, not only ransomed us from sin. God loves you passionately, with an undying love. His wrath against those who assault those who believe in Him is great. He will take care of us. None of us needs to fear.
So live encouraged, children of God. When you feel small, God is big. He is with us in the valleys and the peaks. Give praise to Abba, our heavenly father.
Sincerely,

Thoughts of a Wayfaring Child