Lent is a time of spiritual renewal. Part of the process of renewing our
spiritual life involves being attentive to both God’s grace and to temptations. Over
the centuries, spiritual people have learned a great deal about how God’s grace
works in the human heart and how temptation comes into a person’s life. Lent is a
good time to examine how those two forces work in my own life.
Often God’s grace comes as an invitation. Sometimes it is as simple as an
“inspiration” to call a friend who is having a hard time. Or it may be the easy and
natural desire to share some good news with a friend. Other times God’s grace
comes as the courage to do what we know is right in spite of all the fear and
pressure. Any thought to give thanks and praise to God or to bring hope and
encouragement to our neighbor is a movement of God’s grace. Today, it seems
that one of the most important graces from God is persistence — that spirit of
determination which keeps us on the good road through all the struggles we face.
Every human being experiences temptation, even Jesus. Temptation comes
like a master of illusion, sort of like a magician, making things seem what they are
not. Temptation comes as something attractive and desirable. The evil spirit tries
to make us focus our attention in a narrow and exclusive way on this desirable
thing or situation. We end up losing track of all the other good things and
situations in our lives. We lose perspective. Once the temptation has thoroughly
captured our attention, we end up making poor choices which are not in keeping
with our purpose and destiny. We act as if we are not God’s people.
Often, certain feelings come before the temptation itself comes into our lives.
When we feel discouraged, alone, hurt, afraid, or anything like that. Then our
natural instincts want to quickly grab something which will make us feel better.
Lent is a good time to pay attention to how both grace and temptation come
into our lives. It is possible to make temptation less, but we can never get rid of it
completely. Yet, there is a way to make the power of temptation less. The way to
do that is to consciously make an effort each day to give thanks to God. This can
keep self-pity at arm’s length and can remind us that we are not alone, ever.
This Lent, see what you can discover about the way God’s grace works and
how temptation has power in your life.
