Big Night Blues

My feets is so sore, can't hardly wear ma shoes
My feets is so sore, can't hardly wear ma shoes
Out last night with wild women and it left me with those big night blues

Blind Lemon Jefferson

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered, "It is written,"'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Matthew 4:1-4

Temptation greets us like a naughty friend. It is important to know one thing in regards to temptation. Temptations do not come from God yet God will use trials and temptations to sharpen our faith. Paul compares the growing of our faith to an athlete in training. Many times I have given into temptation under the guise of free grace. This is such a dangerous practice to keep. It is always easier to sin the second and third times around and thus give Satan a permanent foothold in your heart. Our faith and our sanctification are our priority. We must work hard to kill sin that is dwelling within us. Giving into temptation only feeds our lusts and distempers that wage war within us.

So how do we overcome temptations, mortify sin, and overcome personal addictions that hound our souls? Christ gives us a most excellent and perfect way. Satan tempts him 3 times. Each time, Christ responds with scripture. Their is power in the word and we can see from the Gospels that power in action. Another thing that we notice from the story of Christ's temptation in Matthew 4 is that he was fasting. Fasting has become a lost art in the modern church. Through fasting, we can come to a more intimate knowledge of God. Christ often modeled these behaviors, along with solitude and prayer. How often have we wondered why we cannot overcome temptation when we give God a 15 minute quiet time? The christian life is not an easy life. John Calvin says of the christian life,

Whomever the Lord has adopted and deemed worthy of his fellowship ought to prepare themselves for a hard, toilsome, and unquiet life, crammed with very many and various kinds of evil. It is the Heavenly Father's will thus to exercise them so as to put his own children to a definite test. Beginning with Christ, his first-born, he follows this plan with all his children. 1

So let us seek the Lord, our God, and worship Him the way Christ did. Let us not seek our own comforts and desires and give all of our hearts and possessions to Christ. Maybe then when trials and temptations come our way, we can rejoice and consider them pure joy, as the Apostles did.

1. Institutes of Christian Religion