In our lives, we’ll all be tempted to commit prideful, selfish acts. For some of us, our greed and ego will reach enormous heights and lead to disgraceful acts of catastrophic proportions. For others our pride will be somewhat more contained: a white lie here, a bribe there. For most of the rest of us, no one would suspect that we were ever in bed with the devil. In our daily lives we’re good, upstanding citizens, hard workers, devoted friends, and family people. But in the recesses of our hearts, we know we’ve been tempted. We’ve been on the brink of surrender. Enticed by money, recognition, or power to take advantage of others, neglect our responsibilities, or treat ourselves or those we love with disregard and disrespect. But take heart: Being on the slippery slope toward sin does not a sinner make you. In fact, committing a sin doesn’t even make you a sinner. As author Patrick McCormick writes in his 1989 book Sin As Addiction (and he’s backed up by Saint Paul in his letter to the Romans), the lie of sin is that you cannot recover; that your sin makes you irredeemable—unloved and unlovable.
We are assured time and again that nothing can keep us from the love of God. At the end of Jesus’ grueling 40 days of temptation, he was ministered by angels. You will be, too. Just hang in there, and don’t slip! But if you do, get back up and try again.