Surviving Temptation
The devil puts success on sale for a limited time.
Richard Hatch. Remember him? Last summer’s “Survivor” survivor? The “snake” who walked off the island with a million dollars. Then came the “Got Milk?” ads, the talk show appearances, and now a book. Richard is enjoying his piece of the pie.
There were a mere 6,100 applicants for the first “Survivor” series and 49,124 applicants for “Survivor II.” This compares to an estimated 10,000 applicants for the Peace Corps this year (from Time magazine, September 4, 2000, p. 23). Obviously more people want their piece instead of world peace.
But Richard will soon be replaced by another survivor who becomes more lucrative to ad agencies. Richard will be forgotten. Just like the Spice Girls. Or, who remembers last year’s Academy Award winners? How about the American gold medal winners in the 2000 Summer Olympics? What we each wouldn’t give for our moment in the sun. But that’s all it is. A flash of fame or fortune.
The Nasdaq creates and wipes out fortunes in a single day, fashions inspired by hip-hop are completely unpredictable, and all we know for sure about next year is that we’ll all need new computers. In other words, there will always be something tantalizing to pursue, and we must “get it while we can.” But what if it’s not meant for us to get?
Let’s not go so far as to condemn the Spice Girls, or the Olympic champions, or Richard Hatch for that matter, of some wicked egotistical ambition that ignores what is truly good. That wouldn’t be fair. However, let us neither make it our personal ambition to have our piece of the pie while we neglect greater responsibilities of love. To God, and to others.
The devil knew that Jesus, after fasting for 40 days in the desert, had a craving that didn’t just want some things now. It needed them now. Strength to go on. Success in keeping the campaign promises preached by John the Baptist about Jesus taking the throne as the cosmic King. Security in his relationships with the Father and the Holy Spirit. “Jesus, these can be yours, not later, but right now!” the devil lucratively offered. The Father and Holy Spirit had promised that Jesus would have these things, eventually, according to the divine plan. “But why wait!” Because, from the devil, these things come at a price Jesus can’t afford.
Jesus finds his defense not in some supernatural second wind of divine might, but in the truth of God’s promises. They are certain. You will find your defense against the devil’s temptations to be that same truth, from God’s promises to you. Strength. Success. Security. They will be yours at the right time, in the right place, according to the divine plan. They are on sale, of course, right now - from the devil. But they are tainted with his venom that kills. Don’t believe his lie!
Count on the truth of God’s promises. Greet each day confidently, that your failures have been filled up with Christ’s perfect performance of fighting off sin. Engage boldly in the battle of temptation, remembering that you don’t need what the devil offers now. God will provide it at a better time.
PRAYER: Strong, sheltering God, we bless you for all the beautiful things of home; warmth and shelter when the wind outside is bitter, food for the body and for the soul, treasured gifts and treasured memories, stability, acceptance, care. We bless you for the chance to be ourselves, for the tasks that weave the pattern of our days, for the sweet, familiar round of ordinary things. Blessed are you, strong, sheltering God. But if we have forced unfair expectations on others, taken their care for granted, helped to make a safe place a battleground or used our belongings to shut others out, have mercy on us, God of friend and stranger. Disturb our complacency, shake our circles of contentment, sweep through our hearts and our houses with the new broom of your Spirit until love is our only refuge. Amen. (Kathy Galloway, ed., “The Pattern of our Days,” Mahway, NJ: Paulist Press, 1999) 13-14.