The other
day I invited you to let me know how your Great Lenten Journey was going by
using the “Tell us what you think” form on my website. Today’s Daily Lenten
Journey post is a response to a comment I received yesterday....“Once I set
foot out of the church it seems the devil is always trying to trip me up. More
so during lent than not.”
One of the allures of a monastery is that many people think
monastics don’t have temptations like those of us in the world. This is
especially true when we visit a monastery for a few hours and return home
filled with peace and looking forward to growing closer to God once we return
to our routine. Then suddenly, once we step across the property line (it seems)
the devil begins with a vengeance trying to beat us down. The same thing can,
and often does, happen when we attend Lenten services in the Church. Once we
leave the Church, the temptations start all over again. When this happens to
you, first you must understand YOU ARE NOT IMAGINING THINGS. The devil is indeed
trying harder to trip you up.
Great Lent, if we are taking it seriously as our Daily
Lenten Journey has been urging us, is a period of INCREASED spiritual
intensity, similar to a visit to a monastery. First we shouldn’t be surprised
that while in the Church for Lenten services (or any services for that matter)
we feel closer to God. We are in His physical presence. Secondly, we should not
be surprised that we notice the real difference between the temptations inside
the Church (there are ALWAYS temptations) and temptations outside the Church. As
the Church teaches, and we sing in the Cherubic Hymn, “Let us lay aside all
earthly cares that we may receive the King of All,” when we enter the Church (Heaven
on Earth) we change our focus, or at least we should.
Everything seems fine so long as we are inside the Church,
smelling the incense, hearing the bells, singing with the chanters or choir,
venerating the Holy Icons and Relics, and feeling the hard marble floor on our
knees as we do our prostrations as we worship God. This will in fact lift our
spirit closer to God. Then we leave the Church and return to the world.
Remember our Daily
Lenten Journey post from earlier about Adam and Eve being kicked out of the
Garden. Once they left the comfort of the Garden they (we) had to suffer the
reality of a world without God’s protection.
In a similar way, though God DOES protect us, when we leave
the Church after services and return to the world, we are entering a world that
is not focused on God. Just as Adam and Eve had to focus attention on survival,
so do we have to survive. Our attention outside the Church is suddenly returned
to “How am I going to pay the bills this week?” And once we begin to turn our
attention away from God, as Eve turned her attention toward the Tree in the
Garden, the devil has an open window through which to attack. And attack he
does.
So why does he try more during Great Lent than at other
times? There are two reasons. First, he isn’t actually trying harder. We might
just be more aware of his temptations because we are working harder to remain
focused on God. Imagine Eve in the Garden for a moment. Imagine she has her
back to the Tree and staring constantly at God. The devil might be jumping up
and down behind her, but she never realizes. This is like us being in Church
during Great Lent. Then she turns and sees the Tree and seeing its beauty and
imagining how tasty is must be (See the story in Genesis 3), she also sees the
devil jumping up and down next to the Tree trying to get her attention. NOW,
she has to work harder at ignoring the devil’s temptation along with the Tree
and turn her eyes back toward God. The more she contemplates the Tree, the
harder it gets to turn her eyes away.
The second reason is seems like the devil is trying harder
during Great Lent is because he is trying harder. Once Eve turned her attention
completely toward the Tree the devil had to work much less to convince her to
eat the fruit. The truth is, the more the devil has our attention the less he
has to work for it.
So during Great Lent, when we are working more intensely to
focus our attention on God, the devil has to work harder to compete for our
attention, and the more we focus on God the more we are aware the devil is
behind us jumping up and down. So it isn’t surprising that you feel greater
temptations during Great Lent once you leave the Church, but that doesn’t mean
you give up the fight. It just means you are making progress. The more you work
to keep your attention on God, the more the devil has to work to get your
attention away from Him. Whatever you do, don’t give up because the devil never
stops!
Using the link to the left, “Tell us know what you think”
and let us know about your Lenten Journey, and we can share your story with
others. Together we can help each other Live A New Life In Christ.
1 comment:
Thank you for the writing "The devil never stops". I will be more aware of the increased activity of satan and keep my focus on the Lord. This reminds me of a saying on a TV talk show, "you can't fix what you don't acknowledge ." God Bless You!, Carol
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