Today's Scripture Reading (October 30, 2020): Matthew 6
Some years ago,
I was at a conference and shared a hotel room with a good friend. Following the
first night's session, I remember getting back to our room and being confronted
by my friend with a secret. My friend had made a promise to his wife to make some
positive changes in his health practices. But on this night, and for the length
of the conference, my friend was going to do something different. On that first
night, he said to me, "Don't tell my wife, but I am skipping the gym this
week, and I am not skipping McDonald's."
I got it. It
was going to be a tough week. And temptation toward negative changes in our
lives seems ever-present. For me, part of my solution to temptation is found in
a regimented schedule. There are practices or actions that I try to do every
day. I heard a pastor a couple of decades ago argue that we don't need to read
the Bible every day. A couple of days a week is enough, and if we force our
practice of Bible reading, we might come to resent the Bible. But I have found
that if I do it daily, I can stay in the biblical text. If I commit to reading
the Bible twice a week, tomorrow is always a good day to read the Bible, and
suddenly weeks have passed between my Bible reading sessions. A daily exercise
routine or the practice of daily devotions helps me fight against the
temptation of leaving it until tomorrow, or next week or month. But that is me,
and I recognize that not everyone is wired the way that I am.
But, whatever the
method of dealing with temptation that works for you, it doesn't mean that you
won't have to deal with temptation. Temptation is a universal problem that all
of us have to confront. Jesus asks his disciples to pray that God would not lead
them into temptation, although the word used here could also mean testing. But
there is another side of the equation. I need to make sure that I am not
leading myself into temptation. I need to do the things that I can do so that I
can fight temptation. And if I do that, Paul argues that "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" (1 Corinthians 10:13). In the end, God has
promised to deliver us from our temptation and from the one who tries to tempt
us.
Some later manuscripts have also
added a phrase: "… for yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory,
forever. Amen." Most biblical experts agree that this phrase, which most
of learned when we were taught "The Lord's Prayer," was likely added
by some unknown scribe in the years following the life of Jesus and the writing
of the Gospel by Matthew. But even though it may not be part of Jesus's
original prayer, the words are still important. Because all of this, the help
with temptation, the deliverance from Satan, and all of the other things mentioned
in "The Lord's Prayer" are only possible because the Kingdom, power,
and glory all belong to God. He is on the throne, and this, we know, he can do.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Matthew
7
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