What is unseen is eternal

Today in church we talked about Luke 4:1-13. This whole passage talked about how Jesus was tempted in the desert by the devil for 40 days. As my priest was reading through this passage, a few verses stuck out to me. Verses 5-8 really stuck out to me because they are so applicable today if you really think about them. 

“The devil took Jesus up on a high mountain. He had Jesus look at all the nations of the world at one time. The devil said to Jesus, “I will give You all this power and greatness. It has been given to me. I can give it to anyone I want to. If You will worship me, all this will be Yours.” Jesus said to the devil, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You must worship the Lord your God. You must obey Him only.’” –Luke 4:5-8

These verses talk about how the devil offered Jesus all the nations of the world if Jesus would just worship him. “If you will worship me, all this will be Yours.”

In the world today there are so many things that the devil puts in front of us, hoping that we will fall into his temptation. “If you do this, then you will get this as a reward.” The devil can sneak up on you and make you fall into these temptations without even realizing it. Gossip is a huge example of this. I know that sometimes I will not even realize that I am talking bad when I do. I have gotten much better about realizing this, but it is still a constant temptation because it is hard to participate in my friend’s conversations if they are talking about other people. There are so many other examples of this and I am sure there are things that are popping into your head right now.

What our goal should be, at least this is my goal, is to constantly focus on God rather than the devil’s temptations. “You must worship the Lord your God. You must obey Him only.” It is very hard, especially in the world we live in today, but it is not impossible. Constantly look for God is everything you do and those temptations will slowly shrink and become tiny temptations that you can easily turn down. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” The treasures of this earth are temporary, but the treasures of Heaven are eternal. So we should focus on God and not the earthly temptations that the devil is constantly throwing at us. I saw this quote the other day and it is perfect to go along with these verses, “May we be consumed with the creator of all things rather than with things created.” I hope that this helps your lent go a little bit smoother and that you will look towards God instead of earthly things throughout this week!

God Bless!