Are you giving up something for Lent? This practice, while having fallen away in modern times, seems to be gaining some resurgence. There are other profitable ways to approach Lent, but sacrificing something pleasurable holds significance for spiritual growth and renewal.
Lent is a season of repentance. It’s a time to show sorrow for our sins, with the desire to do better. Sacrifice helps to train and exercise our willpower so that when we face temptations, we will be better able to resist them.
Temptation proceeds through steps. First, an inducement to sin presents. It begins with creating doubt. The wrongness of the offense is hidden behind its relative harmlessness. Then comes the insistence that you are cheating yourself by not partaking of this good thing. Hard thoughts of God often come into play. Thoughts of what kind of God would give you various passions and appetites and then forbid you to gratify them. The forbidden thing was not so appealing until the limitation was doubted. Are we not still ensnared in a similar way?
Yielding to the tempter follows next. Sin originates in the human desire to be like God. The crafty serpent tempts humanity to prefer their own will over that of the Creator. Yielding to sin was, and still is, a conscious choice to please self and disobey God. Satan brought himself to ruin by desiring to be like God, hence he sought to taint the minds of our first parents with the same desire to ruin them as well.
The serpent was more subtle than every other beast. This quality made the serpent seem innocent and wise. The tempter made good use of this to deceive Eve because she would not be surprised to be spoken to by such an admirable creature. Spirits or angels freely and frequently appeared in some visible shape and conversed with humans. So, why might not one of them appear to Eve and converse with her in the shape of a beautiful, bright, and shining serpent? She might have felt secure in her discourse with this creature that she presumed was a good angel who had her best interests in mind.
Satan chose to converse with Eve when she was alone. Being alone provides a great advantage to many temptations, while being in the communion of saints bolsters God’s people with strength and safety. Eve positioned herself near the forbidden tree and Satan took advantage of this. Those not wanting to eat the forbidden fruit are wise to not come near the forbidden tree.
Was the serpent really a serpent? Or Satan masquerading as a serpent? Did the serpent-like form speak with a real voice? Does this account of the temptation of Eve in the garden describe an actual occurrence? Or is the narrative an allegorical legend? These questions are better left unanswered. Rather than entertain such speculations, the more reverent path is to come away with the significant moral lessons the story intended to teach us. Here, God has given us an account of temptation, the fall of man, and sin’s entry into the world.
A crafty serpent utilizes subtle tactics to persuade God’s created beings to bow down to things that are not good and are not of God. To avoid falling into this trap, let us not question what God has said, placing our own will above his perfect will. May the spiritual strength we gain through denying ourselves earthly pleasures during Lent assist us in resisting the Devil’s subtle deceptions. May we submit ourselves to our Holy God, allowing him to be the one guiding our lives.
Becoming Biblical 