I found the 130 comments that many of you posted on the topic of temptations today very helpful as I prepared the sermon for last weekend at Elmbrook. I asked you to complete the following sentence: “One of the powerful temptations we all have to guard against today is…”
The results? Dozens of different ideas. Naturally, sexual temptation came up, but not as frequently as these points:
• self-indulgence; self-gratification
• electronic media
• technology, internet
• competition, comparison, status
• materialism
• spiritual complacency
• busyness
Many comments were quite intense and passionate on these issues. I guess we’ve all seen a lot of wreckage (and have been part of the wreckage) in life. The comments that stood out to me were on the theme of competition, comparison, and status. If ever there was a demon masquerading as an angel of light in American culture today…