Until recently, it never occurred to me that perhaps the biggest burden in life for a believer is temptation. I have rather subconsciously made a distinction between the burdens of what we might call stress or anxiety, and the reality of temptation.
But why not lump them together? After all, what could possibly be more stressful to the soul that yearns to be a true friend to Jesus, than to be tempted to betray that friendship? Whereas other kinds of burdens may actually motivate us to deepen our dependence on Jesus, temptation, by definition, threatens the friendship itself.
Think for a moment of someone you dearly and affectionately love. Now, contemplate saying or doing some thing to that person that would leave them feeling utterly rejected by you. Doesn’t the very thought of this generate anguish?
Hence I dare say that there’s possibly no greater burden we shoulder in life than the ever-present, real possibility of wounding the heart of Jesus by yielding to a temptation.
If that is true, then we need help in knowing what to do with such a crushing load. And the Bible is straightforward on what we can do: “casting all your cares on him, for he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7)
Casting our cares on the Lord, I think, comes down to a matter of deflection. That is, the moment we are aware of a stressful thought in our minds, we deflect it away to the Lord. We say to him, “you handle that Lord. You deal with it, and I give you thanks that you will work it out in the best way possible.”
So, why not do that with temptation as well, to where we deflect tempting thought-suggestions away to him for him to deal and then fill our minds with gratitude.
