A VICTORIOUS LIFE

We love to get applauded for our excellent performance and be handed the trophy.  We live in a world where rewards go to the victorious, and so we expect that the whole Christian thing is about performance and measuring up.  But it’s not really about my performance, my measuring up, or even my being faithful. We need rescue.  We have two natures that war, and the only answer isn’t getting by with a little help from our friends. We need transformation.

Jesus spent time with the Holy Spirit and the Father. Scripture documents his time in the spiritual disciplines of fasting and prayer. It was after practicing these disciplines that he faced the temptation.

It is so easy to point the finger at where we imagine the fault to lie. We often think of temptation as coming to us from “out there” somewhere, like a villain coming and knocking at our door to lure us away. We may be surprised by a couple of realities: We can’t be tempted by something we don’t want, and the surprising source of our temptations.