Temptations of Christ 2

We know that Christ was able to be tempted, we know that he needed to be tempted in order to be our Savior, and we know that he withstood temptation, not by using his God powers but just by using his agency just like the rest of us. Another point that needs to be made is that he wasn’t just tempted this one time. I’ve always struggled with this because I never thought that it was fair that Jesus was only tempted once, but the rest of us live with it every moment of our lives. The IM points out, and I can’t find it right now as I’m currently in an airplane in the middle of the night and I’m tired, that Christ was not just tempted once, because the rest of us are not only tempted once. It is also pointed out that Luke tells us that when Satan departed, “he departed from him for a season.” He didn’t leave him for good, just for a short period of time; he came back, just like he comes back to the rest of us. Matthew 22 records Jesus asking the Pharisees “why tempt ye me?” And Jesus states of his disciples in Luke 22 “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.” These other references surely point to a life full of continued temptations, but how did he resist? The IM quotes Elder Neal A. Maxwell as teaching, “By emulating the Master, who endured temptations but ‘gave no heed unto them,’ we, too, can live in a world filled with temptations ‘such as (are) common to man.’ Of course Jesus noticed the tremendous temptations that came to Him, but He did not process and reprocess them. Instead, he rejected them promptly. If we entertain temptations, soon they begin entertaining us!” I’ve heard something that said basically that if you make a decision, you only have to decide it once. If you decide that you are never going to drink alcohol, then when someone asks you if you want a drink, you simply decline, decision made, you’re not tempted at all. I’ve found that to be true for me. If I decide that I’m not going to do something, then when it comes up, I state my decision from earlier and I have no problems. I have to say that drinking alcohol isn’t a temptation for me anymore because I’ve already decided that I’m never going to do it again. When I’m offered a drink, or asked about drinking, it’s a clear “no thanks,” or “no, I don’t.” I don’t have to think about it, I don’t have to decide every time what to do, it’s a no brainer, a non-decision. This is the principle that I try to teach my kids. This approach works for things NOT to do, temptations of omission, but what about temptations of commission? I think about myself, what am I tempted by? Yeah, worldly stuff sometimes, but a lot of my temptations, I think, are to not do things that I should do. For instance, when there are dishes in the sink, I leave them because I know that my mom will deal with it and I’m tired. When I say it like that, it’s pretty embarrassing because that is super petty and small, especially considering everything that she does for me, it’s shameful really. I’m not compassionate with my kids as much as I should be, or I let us sit on the couch and watch tv instead of playing a game together or having family home evening, because, again, I’m tired. So what’s the hard and fast rule on that? Perhaps as we grow spiritually and master the lessons that the Spirit gives us at the time, then the next lesson will present itself. I lose my temper or don’t have the discussions that I know we need to have because I’m tired and just want to sit down and watch tv. How do I decide what to do about that so that I don’t have to constantly make decisions about what’s ok and what’s not? Does it come down to listening to the Holy Ghost for direction whenever situations like that present themselves? Do I make a rule of no tv on the week nights? Do I make a schedule? Do I take anger management classes? Do I count to ten while angry before I say anything? I’m going to have to think about this.

Now let’s get into the temptations themselves. Only three are recorded, but with that the IM quotes Bishop Keith McMullin as teaching, “The temptations He suffered at the outset of His ministry typify those that beset us. Speaking of these temptations- to turn stones into bread to cast Himself from the temple’s pinnacle, and to sell His soul for earth’s treasures- President David O. McKay said ‘classify them, and you will find that under one of those three nearly every given temptation that makes you and me spotted… comes to us as (1) a temptation of appetite; (2) a yielding to the pride and fashion and vanity of those alienated from the things of God; or (3) a gratifying of the… desire for the riches of the world, or power among men.’” I think I’ve mentioned it on the blog before but I heard something that says basically that we are all here on this earth because we’ve already mastered all the temptations that come in spiritual form. Meaning that in the pre-existence we progressed spiritually to the point where we couldn’t progress anymore with out receiving bodies. From that view point, it would make sense that our temptations here in this life would based on physical issues that we must master as well. Physical appetite, not just for food but for anything else physical, drugs, alcohol, sex, food, etc. Pride and power and influence as definitely a reasons that a lot of us do a lot of things. I know that for me, this is a huge one, I spent a lot of my time regretting the things I’ve said, the hard time that I’ve given people, the controlling way I’ve handled situations, the attitudes I’ve flung in people’s faces. I think for me, a lot of it is a defense mechanism, but the point is that I come with that attitude from a place of pain and fear and those feelings don’t come from Christ, they come from Satan. I think that’s where the healing part of the gospel comes in, by learning to resist the temptation to lash out, to give attitude or to act out of a place of hurt and fear, and replacing those attitudes and actions with patience, kindness, long-suffering, and meekness, we allow the atonement to heal us. I listened to a general conference talk from April 1994 in which Malcom S. Jeppsen says, “As in my medical practice when I assisted sick patients, my assignment now is to assist those individuals who have seriously sinned to repent and be restored to full fellowship in the gospel by following a ‘prescription’ provided by the Lord… a divine prescription for this healing has been given by our Heavenly Father which ahs eternally significant implications.” He goes on to say that “the first ingredient is an acknowledgement of the cause of the spiritual malady… The second ingredient is a deep contrition and remorse for any wrong doing we may find… A third ingredient is to seek forgiveness from those whom one has hurt by transgression… a fourth ingredient: there must be total abandonment of the sin… A fifth ingredient: There must be compliance with all the commandments of God… Sixth, one must plead to the Lord for mercy, strength, and forgiveness until one receives through the Holy Ghost a ‘peace of conscience.’… The final ingredient, number seven: there must be faithfulness and service throughout the rest of one’s mortal life. These seven ingredients provide the prescription for spiritual healing and allow our coming to the lord with ‘full purpose of heart.’” Overcoming the temptations in pride and bad behavior might come from  spiritual healing through the atonement. I thought that this was going to be a very different talk when I picked it to listen to. This talk focused on us as the sinner, but I thought that it was going to focus on those of us that have been wounded and hurt by others, spiritual healing caused by abuse to us by others. Honestly, I was pretty disappointed when he implied this spiritual healing was for those who have seriously sinned, I thought “what about those of us who were hurt by others?” But the longer that I listened to the article, the more I thought that we are all serious sinners, regardless of what happens to us, we are all mistreated and scarred by others, and do a fair share of scarring TO others. I thought that maybe through healing our own spirits from our own actions and thoughts, that the healing done to us by others will heal at the same time as well. I thought about girls who have been abused as children or even as adults and how they could have their whole life scarred by the people who did that to them, what would be the way to heal them? For them to understand that they are daughters of God, that they are of infinite worth, they can heal as they come closer to Christ and as they learn who He is and who they are to Him. Those things bring healing from any spiritual injury, and getting to the place where you can learn those things comes from turning away from un-Christ-like behaviors and attitudes and embracing the way of life prescribed by the Lord. So I thought that maybe by repenting of our own sins, our own mistakes, the scars given to us by others will heal at the same time. There is no separate prescription for healing from our own sins and healing from abuse or mistreatment, the prescription is the same, repentance, getting our own houses in order, changing the only things that we can truly change, ourselves. We can’t change anyone else, we can’t change what anyone else has done, we can’t change what happened to us, but we can change ourselves and by doing that, even if we feel vulnerable, is what brings healing from all things.

The third point made by President McKay is our temptations that come from the desire for riches, wealth, and all the power and prestige that come with that. These temptations can come from both ends of the spectrum, the greedy desire to personal gain and even the desire for money, power, and prestige to use for others. We know that the greedy one is bad, but is pursuit of wealth for the benefit of others bad? It can be, the scriptures tell us that if we desire money in order to help others, we must first seek the Kingdom of God, THEN if we still want the money to help others, then we can work on that. If we are at a place where we are seeking the kingdom of God, then we’ll have the Holy Ghost with us in order to show us the proper way to seek wealth without temptation.