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Tempting the Conqueror

Though it may seem unlikely, temptation is necessary to settle and confirm us in the spiritual life. It acts like winds that cause the mighty cedars of the mountains to strike more deeply into the soil. 

Once a noted scientist observed that “early voyagers imagined that the coral-building animals instinctively built up the great circles of the Atoll Islands to afford themselves protection in the inner parts.” But this thought was disproved by showing that the insect builders can only live and thrive confronting the open ocean and in the highly aerated foam of its relentless surf. Likewise, many have held that protected ease is the most favorable condition of life. In contrast, all the noblest and strongest lives prove, on the contrary, that endurance of hardship makes men and is the factor that distinguishes between mere existence and vigorous vitality. Hardship makes character.

So it is with Christians. Temptation drives us deeper into our relationship with our Lord. He uses it to teach us that we can be victorious over those spiritual challenges. 

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Romans 8:37)

—- paraphrase of devotion from Streams in the Desert, January 13.

January 13, 2025 - Posted by Bill Wyler | Culture, Life | 2025, Behavior, Encouragement, GOD, Romans