None of us will ever be truly Christ-like when it comes to the everyday transgressions (both the overt and the hidden) that fall into our paths. Some people can argue that we have no control over our desires, but we know that sinning is voluntary.
During Lent, we hear much about Jesus' temptation in the desert (Mt. 4:1-11). Jesus fasted for 40 days in a desert just outside Jerusalem. When He became hungry, Satan played up this human desire to eat, testing Jesus' true sonship to God. But our Lord persisted, and with His faith in God His Father, rebuked the devil's schemes.
But it is the new millennium and everything is modern and everything is liberal. If you ain't up to date with the times, you're a conservative fart. Right? What are these new magazines for guys coming out, you all know what I mean: G-Rated porn. A country that profits from big breasts, big guns, drugs, and shallow relationships in the mainstream. Parents afraid to leave their children at school because the kids might get shot. We wonder what's wrong. Easy, convenient, and confidential access to a wonderful world of sex on the Internet. We wonder why we give into sin so easily.
Ok, so God created us and sees us having a blast with such worldliness. We'd like to tell God, "We're simply human -- I'd like to serve You, but not right now."
We have to realize that sin is a break in our relationship with God. It could be as simple as disobedience. But it is always repairable, right? Jesus Christ died for each of us, so that we may live. He'll forgive us, He said so. But is it the end, or the means of our relationships that we value?
Adam and Eve, those first sinners, were given instruction from God not to touch the fruit from the tree of knowledge (Gen. 3:3). But the cunning serpent tricked the two and they ate the fruit despite God's orders not to touch it. "The moment you eat of [the tree] your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods," the snake said. Wily fellow that serpent, for he convinced Adam and Eve that they were other than already created in the image and likeness of God Himself (Gen. 1:27).
Therefore, if we are in the image of God, it is a shame to not signify His goodness. When we sin, we dirty the image God intended us to have. When we sin, we are not being like God.
We must know our identity: It is of God, not of this world. So it's funny when God saw Adam hiding from Him, ashamed and naked after swallowing the bite from the fruit of the tree of knowledge. God asked, "Who told you that you were naked?" Now we today, several thousand generations after Adam, touting progress, development and strength, glorify nakedness. It's like falling back one step into a pit, and then later taking another step forward too far off a cliff.
The truth is that all the temporal things of our reality are starting to invade our authenticity as people of God. The knowledge that Adam and Eve were tempted by can be paralleled to the "knowledge" of today: Crassness, apathy, and faith in the worldly. Evil is glorified and conventional; God is disappearing. Once we realize we are not of this world, but of God, truth can shine and evil won't stand a chance. So, while we remember Jesus' expedition in the desert, let us remember that we too are also sons and daughters of God, made in His very image. In times of temptation, we should know who we are.
You are a son -- or a daughter -- of God. That is who you are. In the beginning He created all living things, and "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Gen. 1:27) It doesn't matter what your creed or color is. Know your Father, and you will know yourself.
During Lent, we hear much about Jesus' temptation in the desert (Mt. 4:1-11). Jesus fasted for 40 days in a desert just outside Jerusalem. When He became hungry, Satan played up this human desire to eat, testing Jesus' true sonship to God. But our Lord persisted, and with His faith in God His Father, rebuked the devil's schemes.
