The Truth About Lies (Temptation)Sýnishorn

Holy Environment

At first glance, Satan’s second temptation might seem super random. Doesn’t Satan want to keep people from church? Away from places of worship? Add to that the fact that Satan takes him up as high as possible and then says… “jump!” What is going on here and what does it have to do with us? This part of the story used to always confuse me until I realized, what better for Jesus to launch his public ministry than with a spectacular show of power?

You have heard the sex, drugs and rock n roll story 1,000 times. Man or woman had a freaky past, now comes to church and sings in the choir. But that doesn’t necessarily mean there has been a transformation. For some people it wasn’t about the sex and drugs, it was about their influence. And when that door of influence shut, they found an open door at a religious institution. It just requires a different outfit. They say, “Hey, this is great! I can just come in here, gain position and people will look to me, need me. And that would be wonderful because that is what my life is all about, being needed.” Jesus warned on many occasions that there would be people who come into religious environments and gain religious positions, but they would turn out to be wolves in sheep’s clothing.

It’s very easy to assume that any “higher” or “bigger” or “greater” opportunity or position is always a good thing, especially within the church. We might even talk about them in terms of “blessings.” Sometimes they are. But what if that wasn’t always true? We rarely imagine any situation where we would use these opportunities or positions for hidden agendas but we must be careful. Oswald Chambers once said, “An unguarded strength is a double weakness.” We must not only be open and honest about areas of growth but also about our strengths. I’m certainly not saying that all high positions are intrinsically evil, of course not. But we underestimate our ability to be driven by ulterior motives and sinful desires. If possible, Satan will try to get you to climb up the religious ladder to a high position with the religious uniform on, and what better place to be than at the top of a holy institution? If Satan cannot get you to fall in secular society, he will get you to rise in religiosity.