Devotionals
“The Trilogy of Temptation”
Some few days ago, a caller to a local TV Station threw a gauntlet to Rev. Mutava Musyimi the NCCK General Secretary and the Chairman of the Anti-corruption Campaign committee. The caller asked Rev. Musyimi to if possible seek the highest office of the land as it were or join politics in more mundane terms. There is essentially nothing wrong with the challenge nor the political office(s) per se, apart from the fact that whoever was directing that question to him seemed to ignore many other realities too.
First, Rev. Musyimis’ work among others has been instrumental in the current socio-political gains we enjoy. Secondly, the individual throwing the ultimate temptation to Rev. Muysimi was presumably among the very crowd that barely eighteen months ago was singing Kibaki Tosha. Third, all human beings have inherited that fallen and fallible nature, fundamentally we all are potential criminals as it were; it is just a question of time and chance before it is revealed.
The whole scenario, however, in a way revealed the jig upon which we are all formed from. Mary Whelchel in her treatise, Looking With Forever Eyes very aptly describes the scenario probably posed inadvertently to Rev. Musyimi as “. . .the trilogy of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” These incidentally are the very same issues that faced Adam and Eve at the Garden of Eden and our Lord Jesus during his forty days fast in the desert.
Things that are natural but with vested values and that appeal to the eyes, - the succulent fruit; the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. Things that describe who we are or rather reveal our true self for instance like, - the pride of life. You will be like God, jump from on high and the angels will catch you before you fall and the world will praise you are the suggestions posed to all of us at one time or another. The lust of the flesh, - the fruit was good for food and desirous for wisdom. Changing stones into bread for the gratification of the desires of the flesh is the capstone of the trilogy.
This primal challenge of all humanity was two thousands years ago overrun by the Nazarene at the desert during his forty day fast. The Second Adam our true and only example to emulate inspires us to make the right choices wherever we are and in whatever that we do. While Adam and Eve succumbed to the trilogy of temptation, by flatly giving in to their desires, the Second Adam used the power of the Living Scripts in renouncing the skewed philosophies from the bottomless pit. At every front of the trilogy He affirmed the Written Truth by saying, “It is written.”
Unfortunately, our fore-parents Adam and Even could only rely on ‘hearsay,’ brought by the serpentine creature that planted the seed of discord. The serpent posed this very subtle and scheme filled question, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any of the tree in the garden’?”
After planting the evil seeds of doubt, the very antithesis of faith, it was not long before Adam and Eve were found trying to hide and dress with fig leaves. The very things that they clamoured for had become illusory. Their self-esteem tumbled, after all pride comes before a fall, so the Living Scripts remind us. Their self-worth was down to zero hence their need for hiding and dressing with fig leaves.
In addition, because they never became like God they ran away from the True and Only God, they missed the opportunity for True power and splendour under God. Their search for eternal life and knowledge or wisdom ended up with emptiness. The writer of Ecclesiastes gives his experience adroitly through the following words: “I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid on men! I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”(Ecclesiastes 1:13-14).
Knowledge as an abstraction is an endless tunnel; fraught with vexations of the soul while true wisdom is the Rubicon of fulfilment as it is the embracing of empirical reality enshrined in a person – God. It is worth noting that, discontentment rather than ambition is what drove our ancestors, Adam and Eve to seek for what in reality was already there for them. Discontentment unlike ambition is fundamentally a projection of a disquieted self-seeking soul, while ambition is the attitude of a focused moral drive that seeks the well being of all.
The main force(s) underlying the trilogy of temptation is perspective and perception. Conspiracies are the order of the day in our world, which is why we have political parties, religious groups, secret societies, private member clubs sororities you name it. The ‘ambitions’ of the members of these groups will at one time or the other spill over into the public domain, however, that is an exception rather than the norm. Most would wish to have their agendas or conspiracy concealed and only as salient features.
Propaganda or indoctrination becomes the only other option, either overtly or covertly. The essence of propaganda is creation of doubt and destabilization of the status quo. Hence the question such as the one posited by the enemy of our souls to our ancestors. “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any of the tree in the garden’?” (Gen. 3:1) this was the opposite of what The Ancient of Days had commanded, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
The rephrasing, deletions and inclusions of the original words, not only did it change the perceptions of Adam and Eve but they also changed their perspective. The confusion brought about by the mischievous restatement of the truth to both Adams and Eves created a vacuum ready for disgruntlement of sorts with the end result being the gratification of their senses with the trilogy of temptation.
It is in this regards that the Nazarene cautions our “reading habits,” the books we read, the music we listen to, the News that we read or listen to and our general embracement of rumour or office gossip for that matter. “What is written in the . . . How do you read it?”(Luke 10:26) The former portion from our Lord clearly denotes our perspective, while the latter portion of his words essentially denotes our perception.
James is more blatant on the trilogy of Temptations, he says, “When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.”(James 1:13-14) Shifting of blame is our nature, but true self-healing demands that we take full responsibility for our choices.
kabukuru f.m.
box 5251, 00506, Nyayo Stadium, Nairobi, Kenya
copyright 2004 Kabukuru f.m.
email [email protected]
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