What Can Our Temptations Teach Us?
We’ve been taught to reject anything that even remotely looks like temptation. But what if we look at temptation through a different lens? Meeting temptation with compassion can lead to something truly divine.
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Throughout our lives we face temptation. We’ll desire to do or possess something we know we shouldn’t, but we can’t help ourselves.
1 Corinthians 10 tells us,“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
Temptation is part of being human. When we accept that, we can see our temptations as teachers.
Our temptations teach us about our desires – desires that are often rooted in something we’ve been taught to be ashamed of. Instead of being ashamed of our temptations, we can look at them compassionately.
Through compassion, we can name what our temptations reveal without necessarily giving in to them.
Temptations can be people, places, things, or patterns, that – left unaddressed – deter us from the Spirit’s work.
When we face temptation with compassion, we can practice free will by choosing paths that “lead us not into temptation” but into liberation.
There might be times we give in to temptation. We’re human. This doesn’t make us less deserving of God’s love.
When faced with temptation, we can ask ourselves, “Is this worth blocking the blessings being laid out for me?”
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