So I'm getting ready for Good Friday and Easter and I'm getting pretty excited!
I mean, it's my first time doing all this stuff! I pray that it all goes well.
I pray that the Holy Spirit really moves Faith UMC as we gather in worship and fellowship.
One thing that I think is a really Spirit filled activity is the Easter Egg hunt.
Yes, Holy Spirit filled.
Come on! Lil' kids running around trying to find colorful plastic eggs filled with candy?
All the while the adults are watching and laughing and enjoying one-another.
Being a community.
Dare I say, loving one-another as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ?
Any-hoo, I decided to grab some candy to put in these eggs. And as I browsed the shelves, I see why some folks are wary of the commercialization of Easter. They should be, the amount of candy on these shelves was ridiculous...and oh so tasty looking (drooooool...)
As I beheld the image that's posted above, I remembered Jesus and the disciples in the garden, and how Jesus told them "Pray that you will not fall into temptation." (Luke 22:40)
I'm diabetic, if you didn't know. So my parents had to carefully portion my Easter treats (which kinda takes the fun out of it). I'll tell you, to do the same now as a grown-up...it is an exercise in resisting temptation - - and yes, sometimes I fail to do so.
And it happened today, after I came home from the store. No, I didn't eat the candy - that's for the kiddies. It was a pastry...OK it was a Pop Tart. It wasn't even worth it! I traded my health for a cheap and tawdry Pop Tart! But it had that delicious looking strawberry icing and....
...sprinkles.
I didn't even bother to toast it.
I could hear the voice of Jesus say "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."
And I could hear my inner-voice say "quiet, Jesus! I'm too busy pigging out on a Pop Tart to listen to you!"
How should the story end? "And the Lord smoteth Pastor Mike with a diabetic coma, and it was good." or "His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your Pop Tart? Curse Kellogg's and die!" (if you know that Kellogg's makes Pop Tarts it makes that joke funnier - also read Job chapter 2)
Nope. My blood sugar before dinner was 97.
God is good. Sometimes God let's me suffer the consequences of my sin (even little ones like eating a Pop Tart). But often, I find myself reprieved. Forgiven.
I've fallen to temptation before, and to things much more poisonous and degrading than a Pop Tart. I've ignored my Lord too may times when he has said "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."
Good Friday is a day away. When I'm leading services, when I'm talking about what Jesus did on the cross. Will I remember that it's my sin he took from me and took to the cross?
Lord, help me remember my Pop Tart. In fact help me remember all the Pop Tarts. Help me remember all the cheap tawdry things I've turned to, when I could have turned to You.
Don't let me turn away from Jesus when I see him on the cross.
Give me the strength my soul needs to look at him and to listen.
God, too often I've turned away when Jesus has said
"Pray that you will not fall into temptation."
Do NOT let me turn away when he says
"Father, forgive them" (Luke 23:24)
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