"Whoever lives sinfully belongs to the devil,
This was the purpose of the appearing of the Son of God,
to undo the work of the devil."
- I John 3: 8
Holiness is the exact opposite of sin. If we are called and meant to be holy we should not allow ourselves to become slaves of sin. The Lord Jesus Christ has already paid the great price for the sins committed by our first parents by His blood.
In order to avoid committing sins, we must first of all avoid the occasions of sins, that is, we should not put ourselves in the line of fire: temptations. The Evil One, that ancient Serpent, very well know the ways to tempt and lead us to sin. Since the time of the temptation of Eve through the attempt to lure the Lord in the desert until now, the Serpent methodically tempts us to sin by using our corporeality, our having flesh. Even the angels who were pure spirits were tempted to rebel against God while some went down and took human wives for themselves. So it is a lot easier for the Serpent to lure us into committing sin.
The ways the Serpent tempts us starts from our basic needs and ends with our greatest desires.
For example, food. Very basic indeed. Eve was saw that the fruit was good to eat. The Lord was so hungry after fasting for 40 days the devil told Him to change the stone to bread. Many people would succumb to their basic needs even if they have to steal.
Another way to tempt us is by tickling our ambitions, our self esteem needs, of showing opportunities for fame and popularity even if we have to do some make believes at times, even if we have to lie. Eve was told by the Serpent, "you will surely not die" while the Lord was challenged by the Devil to jump from the top of the tower even quoting the words of Scriptures about the angels protecting Him!
Then there is the temptation for power. Eve was told, "you will be like gods". The Lord was invited by Satan to see all the kingdoms of the world and was promised to have them if He worships the tempter. It is really a strong temptations and many people unknowingly let themselves be tempted to do everything just to gain power, even if they have to cheat.
As Christians, children of God and friends of the Lord, we are called and meant to be holy therefore expected to avoid temptations and sin. During times of temptations we ought not forget that God is in control. While Eve readily gave in to the goodness of the fruit to be eaten, our Lord told the Devil that it is not only bread that can be food for man but also every Word that comes out of the mouth of God. While Eve was delighted to become like God, the Lord said that only God should be worshiped and therefore no one else should also aspire to be God. While Eve was enticed that eating the fruit would not kill her, the Lord answered the Devil that no one should tempt God!
But sometimes we put ourselves on the border, trying to show God we are strong enough to withstand temptations not recognizing that we are playing games with the evil one. This is very wrong and we should always rely on God alone for without Him we can do nothing!
Let us be serious in fulfilling our Christian vocation to holiness. Let us not play games with the devil. He is always around us and as St Peter wrote is "like a prowling lion ever ready to devour". The Apostle continues, "resist him, solid in your faith". Sr Paul also warns us that we are not fighting an ordinary war because our we are waging a spiritual battle.
Many people would surely only shrug their shoulders and consider what we are discussing as very conservative and outdated, perhaps they would even say that it has no place anymore in this modern world especially with so many advances in science and technology. But holiness will never be outdated and sin will always be against God.
In the next articles we shall discuss the things that are not consistent with being Christians.
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