Temptation is Good? | Reflection
As the pilot of a vessel is tried in the storm; as the wrestler is tried in the ring, the solider in the battle, and the hero in adversity: so is the christian tried in temptation.” – St. Basil the Great
What if I told you temptation is a good thing? While we should not desire it, and we should never seek it out, we should understand that temptation is a good thing. Why?
Every temptation is an opportunity for virtue.
In every temptation, large or small, you have the ability given to you by God’s grace (grace sufficient to the day) to choose the virtuous path. And by doing so, you grow stronger in that virtue, and therefore closer to Christ.
Temptations, though to be guarded against, are not to be feared. While many you should indeed run from, recognize that your running is a virtuous action, and not one of cowardice. As the saints say, sometimes the most holy and efficacious way to avoid a temptation or near occasion of sin is to FLEE from it as quickly as possible.
These actions, these choices of virtue are an incredibly powerful way to “punch back” at the enemy. The enemy who, in his attempt to bring you to ruin through the temptation, is then thwarted and pushed back by your choice of virtue, an option only provided to you by God’s grace, further deepening the divide between you and the enemy of your soul.
So no longer fear temptation as a child fears imaginary monsters under their bed. No, stand strong knowing that every temptation is an opportunity to slay the dragon of sin, to increase virtue, to renew your allegiance to God, and to grow closer to Christ.
