Watch and Pray

Our Lord’s temptation makes us see that temptation is not sin, nor does it necessarily involve sin. Christ was sinless, and yet tempted; therefore it is possible for man to be tempted, and yet sinless. Now so many of us, the moment we are strongly tempted, seem to fall into a sort of demoralized condition, as if our innocence were over, as if the charm were broken and we were already sinners; and so we too often give ourselves up easily to the sin. To any soul in such a state what could we say but this: “Look up and see the truth in Jesus; do you not see it there? To be tempted is not wicked, is not shameful, is not unworthy even of Him. It is the lot—in one view it is even the glory—of humanity. Sin does not begin, and shame does not begin, until the will gives way—until you yield to temptation. Stand guard over that will, resist temptation, and then to have been tempted shall be to you what it was to your Savior—a glory and a crown, a part of your history worthy to be written with thanksgiving in the Book of Life, as His is written in His book of life.” Is not this the strength and courage that many a soul needs?
—Phillips Brooks