Temptation

Yes – I know. I can resist anything but temptation. So said Oscar Wilde.

Meanwhile the church tends to say we should resist temptation as much as we possibly can.

Yet there is a more productive way to think.

When temptation arrives it brings to the surface the the parts of us that are hurt and need healing. For example, I may be tempted to go out and buy a fast car so I’ll feel better about myself, perhaps, which really only indicates that I don’t feel good about myself right now. If so, then that is the part of me that needs to be healed. Buying a car will not heal anything, although I may feel temporarily god about what I’ve done.

Until that temptation surfaces, until we really allow ourselves to feel its pull, we may not truly know that we’re feeling a bit under appreciated, that we don’t actually like the person we are right now. If we did like that person, fully, then there would be no need for the car, or the expensive luxury item we’ve fixed our minds on.

Greet temptation as an old friend. It’s there to tell us what we need to do. Listen, and then do your soul work.