Lead Us Not into

Temptation   
 

by: Pastor Tony Haglund, Canton Lutheran Church
 

"Lead us not into temptation" we pray in The Lord's Prayer and yet temptations surround us. Although temptations come in many shapes and sizes, I wonder if at the heart of them all is our struggle to completely trust God. If we could completely trust that we are truly God's beloved and that God provides all that we need would there be any temptation that could continue to hold power over us?

Theoretically it works but in real life, things seem more complicated. We are unable to consciously recognize the reasons we do what we do.  As St. Paul writes to the church in Rome: "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (Romans 7:15)

And so we pray, "lead us not into temptation" and in essence pray that God would increase our trust.  We are praying that God would remind us again that we are God's beloved and that God faithfully provides all that we need. For when God does this "behold! there is new creation" and when God does this, grace abounds!