Temptation is Necessary

Job says: “Man’s life on earth is a temptation.” No one is too perfect and holy as sometimes not to have temptations. Nevertheless, temptations can be very profitable, difficult though they may be. Temptation is necessary. It helps us to persevere in humility and distrust of ourselves. Temptation forces us to take refuge in God alone. In fact, temptation is one of the sure signs that we are on the path to heaven, no matter how humiliating the temptation may be. If you are weighed down with the worst temptations simply turn to Jesus Christ wholeheartedly and He will support you in your time of trial.

One of the most common temptations is to turn away from God when we are persecuted. But we must trust Him and His divine providence. It is one of the most firmly established and most consoling of the truths that have been revealed to us that (apart from sin) nothing happens to us in life unless God wills it so. Wealth and poverty alike come from Him. If we fall ill, God is the cause of our illness; if we get well, our recovery is due to God. We owe our lives entirely to Him, and when death comes to put an end to life, His will be the hand that deals the blow.

But should we attribute it to God when we are unjustly persecuted? Yes, He is the only person you can charge with the wrong you suffer. He is not the cause of the sin the person commits by ill-treating you, but He is the cause of the suffering that person inflicts on you while sinning.

God did not inspire your enemy with the will to harm you, but He gave him the power to do so. If you receive a wound, do not doubt that it is God Himself who has wounded you. If the whole world were to stand against you, unless God wished it and joined with them and gave them the strength and means to carry out their purpose, they would never succeed. You would have no power over me if it had not been given you from above, Jesus Christ said to Pilate. We can say the same to demons and men and whatever exists—you would not be able to disturb me or harm me as you do unless God had ordered it so. You are sent by Him, you are given the power by Him to tempt me and to make me suffer. You would have no power over me if it had not been given you from above.


In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching