The Power of Temptation

"A man knows not the pride, fury, madness or a corruption until it meet with a suitable temptation... There are traitors in our hearts, ready to take part to close [consummate] and side with every temptation, and to give up all to them; yea, to solicit and bribe temptations to do the work, as traitors incite an enemy... He that promises himself that the frame of his heart will be the same under a temptation as it is before will be woefully mistaken... Let the wise man answer: 'He that trusts in his own heart is a fool, (for) the heart is deceitful." ~John Owen

It is so easy, in times of close communion with God, to say we shall never be tripped up by temptation or fall into evil.  We hear of those who profess great faith falling into grievous sin and boldly claim (if not out loud at least in our hearts) that we will never fall in such a manner.  So it was with Peter when he was told that he would betray Jesus.  His response was, "Never my Lord."  And I can only imagine that, it being Peter, it was probably said with a bit of emphasis and indignation that anyone would even suggest such a thing.  And yet Peter did indeed deny knowing Jesus in the hour of his temptation.  How often do we fall into the same trap.  When standing on the mountain top we boldly proclaim that we shall never enter into temptation.  We will not be angry, or plot the demise of others, or figure out how to get even, or swindle, or steal, or hate, or lust, or lie, or be prideful.  And yet, these boasts are made in the flesh with a reliance on one's heart, which will surely fail.  We all realize from our life experience that the heart knows not the power of sin until it is meet with temptation, and when this happens, the heart on its own is not strong enough to withstand the onslaught.

Thus Christ's exhortation to watch and pray.  The moment we let our guard down is the moment that our heart betrays us.  And we let our guard down by taking our eyes off of Jesus Christ.  Conversely, one glimpse of Christ and His beauty and His grace frees us and allows us to persevere.  When a pilot is flying bad weather and using only his instruments to navigate, it is easy to become spatially disoriented.  Your inner ear is telling you that you are turning when in fact you are straight and level.  Your senses tell you that you are doing something that is not happening.  One glimpse at the actual horizon, one glimpse of the runway or the ground and all that disappears.  One glimpse of Christ, and all that entangles us loses it's power, but it is only in the power of Christ, and not our own power, that this happens.