Tempted and Delivered

Well, the Christmas holidays are fast sneaking up on us which I think is a time of year we, at least here in NZ, trade snow for sand, eggnog for BBQ and a cold one, and holly for pohutukawa. But since I’ve been here at St George’s, we haven’t given up the lights, we still gather together around food, we still sing the same favourite Carol’s, and there is a spirit of giving, mostly. I say ‘mostly’ because there are still many within our circles who go without, and where there is observed lack there is tension.

As much as we talk about the joy of selfless giving, even in the giving and receiving of gifts amongst our loved ones, much of what should be pure in the exchange can be tainted in some way. Maybe it’s tainted by something as small as being disappointed with what we’ve received, or maybe we didn’t get the acknowledgement that we hoped with the amount of time, money and effort that we put in.

This is an ongoing and powerful struggle within the human heart between extending grace and self-centred desire or the need for recognition. This is a struggle that is not only present in the big crises that we experience, but also in the small, everyday moments of life and in our interactions with others. I suppose it raises the question, how can we as Christians, faithfully navigate life knowing that virtually everything seems intent on tripping us up and seeing us fail?

Well this Sunday we will close off our series on prayer as we come to the end of ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ and specifically where we ask, ‘our Father’ to ‘…lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.’ This is the final petition that our Lord Jesus taught us to pray and hopefully it will provide some semblance of an answer to the question above. Take a moment to read Matthew 6:5-14 once again and may God bless you in this, because through Scripture, God is still speaking.

Josh