Journey with Jesus

NUGGETS FROM THE GOSPEL OF MARK Tempted? (Mark 1:12-13, NIV)

written by Rev. Lisa Morrison

If you see someone drop a $100 bill on the ground, do you think to yourself, “I could use that money,” and therefore find yourself tempted to pick it up and keep it? Or are you tempted to eat two gourmet cupcakes brought in by the office staff to celebrate your boss’s 25th anniversary before you even acknowledge him and his accomplishment, thinking no one will notice? Or are you allowing yourself to focus your attention on your neighbor’s husband longer than you ought, seeing him as a delicious temptation?

We struggle with temptation every day. It is part of life. Some temptations are more difficult than others to resist. Pope Gregory the Great explained how temptation moves to fulfillment in three stages: suggestion, delight, and consent. St. Augustine expanded this teaching, saying that sin resulted only at the stage of consent.* We see in Mark 1:12-13 that after Jesus was baptized, “immediately the Spirit sent Him out into the wilderness, and He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan.” (NIV) Jesus was faced with Satan’s suggestion – recognizing how He could sin, but it never occurred to Him to delight in the suggestion, so He never consented.

We are all tempted, really tempted sometimes, but we do not have to fall into sin. Jesus set the example for us to follow. In our flesh, we want to pick up the $100 bill and keep it. We want to indulge in eating two gourmet cupcakes without anyone noticing. We want to entertain a secret rendezvous with our neighbor’s husband. Yet, as Christ-followers, we are not to walk by the flesh, but by the Spirit.

How do we do this? The same way Jesus did. First, we recognize the suggestion of temptation; then, we exercise the power of the Holy Spirit living within us not to delight in or consent to the temptation before us. Only by allowing the Spirit to be the power source within us can we defeat the temptations of the enemy in our lives.

St. Augustine also said, “Christ was tempted so that a Christian does not have to be conquered by the temper” (Second Sermon on Psalm 90). Dear woman of God, may I encourage you to face your temptations today knowing Satan has been defeated, and because of the Holy Spirit living in you, your temptations no longer need to be your downfall. Be like Jesus, who never gave into the enemy’s schemes despite being tempted in His flesh. Jesus lived a pure and holy life honoring His heavenly Father, modeling for us how we too can live a pure and holy life by never giving in to the enemy’s schemes. May we recognize the enemy’s suggestion and halt right there, not engaging in delight or consent, and thereby live the pure and holy life designed for us before sin ever entered into the world.

*Augustine, “On Continence” 5 (NPNF, 1st ser,. 3:381)

Lisa Morrison is an ordained minister who has served as pastor and staff pastor in several positions in the local church, as well as in district ministerial and educational leadership positions. She also has been an adjunct instructor at various educational institutions of higher learning teaching in the religion departments. She holds two master’s degrees and a post-graduate degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.