TEMPTATION

Is there a better song to depict the power of temptation than Hotel California? A lovely place from the outside looking in…A place that entices us to check in…but you can’t leave.
Meanwhile on this 5th Sunday of Lent, we hope to take a hard look at what Hotel California offers and what Jesus means when he says we should pray:
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ (Matt 6:13).
The Apostle Paul warns us that our struggle is against spiritual forces (Eph 6:12), the Devil himself who is nothing but a liar (Jn 8:43-44). The problem is that his lies are enticing and seemingly offer a short cut to alleviate the broken places in our soul.
But only truth will set us free…the sometimes painful truth (Jn 8:31-32)…but without the truth we will never leave the Satan’s hotel.
The teaching that set us free require us to admit that we are messed up beyond our own ability to repair (Rom 3:23)… but we are also loved beyond our wildest understanding of what that means (Jn 3:16)…And nothing can separate us from that love, even an extended stay in Hotel California.