The Believer's Greatest Temptation

"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen." (Matthew 6:13)

This translation may strike some as odd, even sacrilegious. Certainly, God does not lead us into temptation:

"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." (James 1:13)

A better rendering of Matthew 6:13 would read thus:

"Bring us not into judgment, but deliver us from the evil [one]."

Here, the plea that Jesus offers to his hearers is the exhortation to seek forgiveness from sin, the hereditary evil from Adam that has alienated us from God. Now, for every believer who has been made the righteousness of God by faith, this is no longer an issue.

Therefore, what temptations, or rather, temptation do we have to be wary of?

The temptation of falling from Grace, of forgetting that we are God's Beloved, who have been engraved on His hands, which no one can take away.

In Matthew 3, God the Father declares over Jesus following His baptism in the Jordan:

"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 3:17)

Yet following Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness, Satan, the Evil One, tempted him thus:

"If thou be the Son of God," (Matthew 4:3) . . .

And

"If thou be the Son of God," (Matthew 4:6) . . .

And

"And [the devil] saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." (Matthew 4:9)

Each time, Satan left out the key word "beloved," attempting to tempt Jesus to compromise His graced standing before God to do things for Himself. Yet Jesus had no need to prove to anyone, least of all Satan, that He is the Son of God.

In a similar fashion (for the devil is hardly original in his attacks on believers), Satan tries to convince believers that they have lost or have diminished their blessed, beloved standing, that they must prove their love or move on their own to effect His promises in their lives.

Consider:

"Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." (Galatians 5:4)

If Satan can convince a believer that he must work or strive because God cannot or will not come through for him, then a believer fall from grace, and makes faith of no effect:

"For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:" (Romans 4:14)

How, then does a believer refrain from falling from grace. By walking grace! By living by faith, not by sight. Be right believing, ever trusting in their Beloved status before the Father.

A man whom God has set His love can never fall:

"Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall." (2 Peter 1:10)

Peter speaks this comforting exhortation in the context of ever recalling one's salvation as gift, not work:

"For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins." 92 Peter 1:8-9)