"Do Not Lead Us Into Temptation" (Matthew 6:13)

The reason I called a timeout was we were playing horribly, tensions were rising, focus – what focus? “What’s going on out there?” I demanded to know in the huddle.“Coach, you didn’t see the way #30 is looking at me,”“Yeah, she is giving us the look,” another confirmed.“You mean to tell me we are playing like dog barf because # 30 is looking at you wrong!” I shouted in complete consternation and exasperation.“Yes coach, it’s bad,” the entire huddle confirmed.“We might as well pack it up because we don’t stand a chance. If one player can make us play this bad with just the way she looks at us, we have no business being out here.”I would love to tell you that somehow we rallied, tied it up in regulation, and then won it in double overtime, but we never overcame “that look” and went home with our butts handed to us. The only good thing was no fights broke out.It is tough to take responsibility, so much easier to blame someone, something other than yourself. It is a major way of us excusing ourselves when we cave in to temptation. “She made me do it,” Adam told God in the huddle (I do empathize with Adam, it is very tough to say no to the woman you are totally in love and infatuated with); “The serpent/devil made me do it” was Eve’s contribution to the huddle conversation (Genesis 3:12-13). The truth is, “The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust” James 1:14 (MSG).Temptation is a head game for the heart and life. Others, the devil, situations, circumstances may tempt us, might knock on our door, look at as wrong, do us wrong, devise ways to trip us up, try to mislead us, even hurt us deeply, but we are in charge of the response. We decide how much influence they get on the home-court of our minds and subsequently our hearts and lives.Speaking of basketball, “March Madness” (the annual final tournament of the America’s best college teams) is in full swing. The pressure to win is enormous, and how many coaches, players, and schools cave to the temptations that come with that kind of pressure, the insane amounts of money involved, and the rewards of winning it all. Temptation knows how to give all kinds of looks to gain access to our minds, our hearts, and our decisions.The same can be said of the election cycle we are in, so many temptations, not just for the candidates but also for the voters, and with it so many excuses to embrace things displeasing to God and hurtful to our “neighbor”.The only sure way to deal with the “looks” of temptation is to stay focused on God and living with him in a growing, intimate relationship made possible through Jesus Christ. Ultimately the goal of every temptation is to disrupt, to injure, to distract from a life-giving, pure, liberating relationship with God. “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure (help you through it)” 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT, parenthesis MSG).To God be all glory. Love You, Pastor Hans