Day 20 - The Revelations of Temptation

We will never be able to grasp the width and depth of the doctrine of sin while we think of it only in its moral context.

After all, breaking the basic laws of justice and decency must be sin. Our freedom to honour those principles is one of the moral dimensions in our nature, and sin often appears in the form of law breaking.

But our sin is something much deeper than our simply giving in to the temptation to break the law. The core of our personal sin is making ourselves the centre of life, rather than accepting the holy God in that place of authority. So lack of trust, leading the me-life and pride - these are three everyday ways in which we demonstrate the core meaning of sin to the world.

Your heart is being displayed to you and to others through your temptations. You are aware of your sin, which without temptation you would never have realised; because in being tempted you discover the truth of where you have set your heart.

Your sin's being made to surface into the light is the accuser's work, who then thinks he has won the victory. But once sin becomes manifest it can be recognised, and therefore forgiven.

So you can assure yourself that the indicating of sin is part of the saving plan of God for you, and Satan is having to serve this plan.