Devotion
Temptation Produces Endurance
Frances Taylor
If you've never been tempted, how do you know you have virtue? Just like if you've never doubted, how do you know if you have faith? James is telling us that meeting temptation head on builds endurance; it strengthens us in our resolve to overcome it. James also is telling us if we're unsure of which way to go, we can ask God and he will give us the answers we need. Every time we pray the Our Father, we ask God to help us by leading us not into temptation, but if temptation finds us, we can ask God to help us. The reason we need the gift of wisdom in certain circumstances is because we at times have to choose between two goods, or two evils. In the case of two good, which choice will benefit the most and in the other, which is the lesser of the evils? This is a situation that emergency services face often when there are multiple patients or multiple injuries in an accident. They call this triage. They check out the situation and decide who they need to treat first.
For us, we can't depend on medical knowledge, but moral understanding. In business, two candidates for a job might be equally qualified to be hired or promoted, but someone has to make a choice between the two. Believe it or not, making good choices is a skill that can be learned. We come to understand bad choices by being allowed to suffer the consequences. Children who are protected by their parents and never allowed to fail don't learn this skill. If a child doesn't do homework and has to stay after school or can't go out to recess, he learns to do his homework. A child that shoplifts who has to return the item him/herself learns not to shoplift. As we grow, we will face more serious temptations, but if we have learned that actions have consequences both positive and negative, we learn when to say no and when to say yes. And when we're not sure, we can ask God.
Prayer
Lord, you have given us the rules for life, but sometimes life is confusing. Please send us your Holy Spirit to give us the wisdom to make the right choices. Amen.
Morning Prayer
For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
Inspiration
The Church of God, and each local church in particular, are made up of a diverse group of believers whom God has gifted with different natural talents and spiritual gifts. And he has called different members of this one great Body to different ministries, but all should be done in submission the Head of the Body, which is Christ.
Prayer
Show me, Lord, where I might fit in in my local church and in the whole Body of Christ. Let me seek to serve you, and in the process of seeking your glory and your will to be done, let me find the ministry you have in store for me. Amen.
