TLDR: After my sermon for the First Sunday of Lent, two parishioners asked me if I would elaborate further in a blog what I said about temptation and the tips to combat it. Please read below for more.

In the sermon for this last Sunday (First Sunday in Lent) I paraphrased a sermon from Saint John Chrysostom you can find in “The Homilies of John Chrysostom, the Gospel of Matthew, Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1852, Pg.173”. Someone asked me to summarize in a brief blog some of the conditions necessary for temptation to lead us into sin. I tend to avoid a lot of “fire and brimstone” preaching or writing, but I think a blog about sin is appropriate during Lent. So here it goes.

I listed five situations when we experience temptation the strongest in our life:

1. It is often when we are at the weakest point in our lives that we get tempted the hardest: In the passage from the temptations of Jesus in Matthew 4:1-11, we see that it is only when Jesus is famished after fasting for forty days that the tempter begins his work. Extreme hunger, exhaustion, loneliness, hopelessness, frustration, etc. could be the perfect entry point for temptation.
2. Temptation usually attacks us the most aggressively when we are alone: Chrysostom is clear about this. We also saw in Matthew’s passage that Jesus was driven away deep into the wilderness before his temptations. Loneliness worsens blood pressure, anxiety, depression, and even purposelessness. We are created in community to live in community. We need each other. We need accountability groups and people we can be ourselves with (therapists, priests, recovery groups…).
3. Temptation uses our most basic needs as a weapon against us: Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. We all have a universal need for air, water, food, shelter, clothing, sleep, reproduction, etc. Maslow called these, Physiological needs. Next up in the hierarchy are Safety Needs (personal security against violence, crime, war…), health and wellbeing, stable environments, financial security, safety nets, etc. Next up comes Love and Belonging (family, friendships, community, romantic relationships, group memberships, affection, emotional intimacy, etc.) After this comes Esteem (Self-respect, confidence, respect from others, relationships, group membership, affection and intimacy). Finally, Self-Actualization (Creativity, personal growth, moral development, pursuit of meaning, purpose driven action, peak experience of joy, transcendence, insight, etc.) In the case of Jesus in the dessert, the Tempter first uses food as a temptation.
4. Temptation usually starts with a cognitive distortion. It starts with a lie: In the case of Eve in the garden, the lie was “God is afraid that you may become like him! You will not die! Did he really say…?” In the case of Jesus, the lie is, “I own everything and I can give it to you, if only you worship me!” We have many lies we use to justify our behaviors, “Pornography is a victimless activity… I am not an alcoholic; I am only a social drinker… Didn’t God say it is not good for man to be alone? Well, I am really alone in this hotel, hundreds of miles away from home…”
5. Temptation fools us into believing that we have the right to do whatever we want with our wealth or our possessions because they are ours: We often forget that Christianity demands an ethical use of wealth. The lie is that we own everything we have because we have earned it, but in reality, everything we have is given to us by God in trust. It all belongs to God. We have the right to use our wealth, but we must realize that we are blessed so that we may become a blessing to others. Lately in the news we have been bombarded with stories about billionaires who believe their vast wealth sets them apart from the requirements of the law, that they can do as they please. The list of behaviors they have engaged in is truly horrible. Many of us at times feel the same way. Our excesses often affect our physical, emotional, and even spiritual health in ways we may not even be conscious of at the time.

In my sermon, I gave a few pointers of things we can do to avoid these temptations. These are just suggestions that may work for some of us. There may be other suggestions for you and I invite you to find them and use them: 

1. We have to watch out for excess and strive not to abuse things like food, drink, sex, etc. Remember the sage advice of many monks in the early Middle Ages. When deciding what constituted a major sin (pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth), they came up with the principle of “Go no further.” A normal behavior, even a minor sin, can become a major sin when you go too far. Having a drink is fun, two drinks may be appropriate under certain circumstances, three drinks may be safe if you are at home, not driving, or have made arrangements for transportation… but eventually you arrive at a point where one more drink will mean “going too far.” It is at this point that you must be very careful. This applies to each of these “deadly sins.” Pride can become disordered, greed can become an obsession, lust can wreck marriages and communities, envy can lead to violence and extremely passive aggressive behaviors, gluttony will literally kill you, wrath can lead to legal difficulties and the break-up of relationships, and sloth can lead to dependency issues, severe poverty, neglect of those you are called to care for, irresponsible lifestyles, etc. Rule of thumb: Go no further!
2. We need to strengthen our bodies and souls. We need to exercise, eat rightly, pray, read Scripture, confide in a therapist or friend we trust, participate in worship. A Christian life thrives in an environment of constant effort and improvement (which doesn’t mean activity for activity’s sake, sometimes rest is what is needed). It means purposeful behaviors to improve the quality of all aspects of our lives. (At this point, at least one of my kids would cry out, “Hypocrite!” I work too hard and don’t rest enough. I know this and I am working on it.)
3. We need a support system, and an accountability group, people who care for our wellbeing. We are created in community, raised in community, nurtured in the community of the Church, called to create community through marriage and employment, etc. As Bishop Doyle says often, “We are better together.” Be careful about the epidemic of loneliness in our country right now. Look to the local libraries for book studies, join free activities like pottery classes at our local community centers, join a local Mahjong club, get a therapist or spiritual director, etc.
4. We need to check the lies we tell ourselves and expose them for what they are. It is important to realize that we all rationalize our behaviors. This should not lead us to guilt or anxiety, but to an honest inventory and assessment of our lives. One of the lies I tell myself is, “Only I can do A, B, Or C!” Another lie, which is a close cousin of the first, “It takes me longer to train someone than to do it myself!” These two lies lead to an over-developed sense of responsibility about everything, which is a great way to end up in burn-out territory. The, “Just one drink and then I’ll go home,” only works for those who don’t have a drinking problem. The “A man deserves his beer,” is a close relative to that lie. Just keep an inventory and challenge these lies we all tell ourselves.
5. And lastly, we must realize that temptations only work because they promise to make us happier. But only God can give us true happiness. The “If one drink is good, two are better” principle doesn’t really work. Temptation offers us pleasure, fun, excitement, wealth, power, control… But these gains are usually temporary and they come at a cost to your mental, physical, financial, and emotional health. True happiness seldom comes through our obsessive desire for more. True happiness is a gift from God that often is the result of small, consistent, and purposeful decisions.

Stay the course, God is with you through it all. May our Lord continue to bless you,

Fr. Roman+