Temptations

First Sunday of Lent:

He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan Mark 1:13

Yes, there is that voice, the voice that speaks from above and from within and that whispers softly or declares loudly: "you are my beloved, on you my favor rests." It certainly is not easy to hear that voice in a world filled with voices that shout: "You are no good, you are ugly; you are worthless, you are despicable, you are nobody-unless you can demonstrate the opposite."
The negative voices are so loud and so persistent that it is easy to believe them.
That's the great trap. It is the trap of self rejection. Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity or power, but self rejections. Success, popularity and power can, indeed, be a great temptation, but there seductive power often comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to self-rejection. When we have come to believe in the voices that call us worthless and unloveable, then success, popularity and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions.

Prayer: Lord, help me to appreciate just how much you have blessed me in so many ways.


Taken from Daily Lenten Meditations from the works of Henri Nouwen