There is no
need to expect a life totally freed from temptations, because it will never
come. Not only were there no biblical people that did not have temptations, but
Jesus went on to express that temptations must really come. Note how Jesus presented
this fact: “it is not possible but that temptations to sin will com.” He means
that temptations must come, whether you believe it or not. No amount of prayer
can push temptations totally away from you. What is temptation? It is anything
that tries your faith. Temptation is persecution to your faith. Anything that
causes a person to sin is a temptation. You will see such things everywhere:
the business, the office, the marketplace, the play field, the club, the home
and even in the church. Occasions of sin abound in the world. Yet, Jesus sounds
a warning, “woe unto him through whom they come.” Anyone who creates an
occasion for sin has the blame. God will punish anyone who causes others to
sin; who create obstacles to people’s faith.
This can
happen in the following ways.
a. By seducing others to sin: We have a
lot of people who build immodest and immoral structures that constitute
obstacles to other people’s faith. Some people have the habit of luring other
people into cursing and talking filthy; into being conceited and prideful; into
complaining and criticizing others; into being worldly and materialistic.
b. By making a false profession of faith:
Jesus describes such people as hypocrites. They are people who claim to be what
they are not. They are full of pretence and falsity. They constitute a
stumbling block to people, because they are not giving good examples.
c. By discouraging people from following
Christ: they do this through words or deeds, abuses or neglects, persecutions,
slander etc.
People who belong to this category are provoking God.
Jesus says, “it would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a
large millstone tied around their neck” (MK 9:42).
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