[After reading of the temptation of Jesus by Satan] What is the closest you have come to a time of initiation into manhood? Who was there for you—affirming you and cheering you on? (Serendipity Bible 10th Anniversary Edition, page 1342).
Odd as it may seem for someone approaching 70 years of age to say, I don’t feel I have ever been seriously tested. I suppose the question is: “Have I ever been tempted to go over to the dark side?” The only way a Christian can truthfully answer this is to say temptation is always imminent and now and then succumbed to. Nevertheless, flat-out apostasy has never been a temptation for me. The basic sanity found in a loving approach to life has always presented itself in full cogency. There is no other unadulterated possibility outstanding upon the landscape. All other options appear ultimately as hopeless dead-ends offering nothing but bankruptcy—whether intellectual, spiritual, emotional, or social. It is for this reason I say that I have never been seriously tested. The devil has nothing in his bag of tricks worth having—that’s the way I see it. As for the cloud of witnessing cheering me on, they have at all times been present in spirit and/or in the flesh and for them I’m eternally grateful.
Print Page
