Temptation for the Christian is not simply an impulse towards evil over good.
temptation
the big picture
We often focus too much on overcoming a particular sin forgetting that our focus must be on Jesus Christ who gives us both the desire and the ability to overcome sin.
our holy longing
While at times we are faced with decisions involving good and evil, most often our choices are between something good, something better, and perhaps a best option.
tempted & growing
Instead of going down that track of settling for the thing I think I want that’s actually a temptation, we are much better off if we become aware of the desire we have for something greater.
tempted ?
You might have heard the one about the Abbot who asked the novice if he had been entertaining temptations. "No" the novice replied, "I haven't been entertaining...
tempted ?
At the risk of you turning off even before we begin, I want to offer a word of encouragement about temptation. We all experience temptations. Jesus was tempted. I enjoy...
tempted?
In the Gospel reading for today, the First Sunday of Lent, we hear of Jesus being tempted. His response to the temptation seems remarkably calm; he simply gives one...
follow the good
I'm thinking ahead a couple of days to Lent which begins this week on Ash Wednesday. I heard someone once say that Lent was a kind of "boot camp" for the Christian, a...
greatest attraction
In the past couple of posts (listen and read) I have reflected on Pope Francis' Epiphany homily in which he challenges us to take the example of the Magi by avoiding...
holy cunning
I am sure that there are some people who saw this snake image and quickly decided to surf to another page. Many people don't like snakes. It can't be simply that they...
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Annunciation
A couple of thousand years ago, a young Jewish woman was going about her normal morning routines, perhaps with a mixture of house and garden work, chatting with parents and neighbours, aware of the local drought, the sickness of a neighbour and annoyed by the neighbourhood’s lack of sleep caused by the Romans’ noisy party the night before, when God broke into her routine and entered her life in a new and powerful way.
the real centre
Over the last month I have had the opportunity to work with many people across Aotearoa and further afield. In every retreat and seminar I have been with committed and faith-filled people who often feel as though they are on the periphery of the Church
the adventure
It’s easy to make the mistake of seeing life as a treadmill, day after day ups and downs, a movement through time from youth to old age, then death and beyond.
Too often if feels as if we are helplessly captive carried along by the momentum of all that is expected of us and demanded from us, and we risk falling into an existence mode, a daily rhythm of survival, enduring, coping and so the treadmill rolls on.
the bigger picture
Over the years, and even in recent months, weeks and days, I’ve prayed many prayers which have not been answered as I had hoped.
You’ve probably had the same experience: praying and wondering if and when or how your prayer will be answered.
moving waters
Bible questions still pop up regularly in quiz shows and they often cost otherwise sharp players much needed points.
I’m ready for a question asking for the two names for the last book of the Bible. The book often known as Apocalypse is perhaps more often referred to as the Book of Revelation.
It’s common (thanks to movies) to think of an apocalypse as a devastating and unwelcome time of destruction.