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A temptation to self-preservation and/or self-indulgence

“What is preventing you from experiencing deeper transformation?” Or, “What distractions in your life hinder a deeper relationship with God?”. A temptation to self-preservation and/or self-indulgence.

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A temptation to self-preservation and/or self-indulgence

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  1. “What is preventing you from experiencing deeper transformation?” Or, “What distractions in your life hinder a deeper relationship with God?”

  2. A temptation to self-preservation and/or self-indulgence

  3. The false self does what it immediately wants. We are invited to look for what we really need and who we truly are.

  4. Where in your life are you trying to create security on your own terms and your own timeline? In what ways are you self-indulgent?

  5. The burning question:Will I have enough?

  6. Power offers an easy substitute to the hard task of love. It seems easier to be god than to love God, easier to control people than to love people, easier to win life than to love life.” – Henri Nouwen

  7. “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” - Matthew 16:26

  8. Jesus knows his identity is not wrapped up in what he has or what he can accomplish.God loves us not because of what we do or accomplish, but because God created and restores us in love.

  9. The burning question:Will I have control?

  10. It is the temptation to believe you are not enough and you must do something else to manage people’s perception of you. It is a preoccupation with image and the perceptions of others.

  11. Where in your life are you attempting to “look good”?

  12. The burning question:Will I be accepted?

  13. Stones to bread – the temptation for prosperity and preservationTemple jump – the temptation for popularity (creating an image)Offer of the kingdoms – the temptation for power, position and control

  14. We shouldn’t be surprised that after Jesus’ great moment of vision, when his sense of God’s calling and love was so dramatically confirmed that he then had to face temptations and recognize them for what they were.

  15. “Though we are God’s sons and daughters we do not realize it yet.” – Meister Eckhart

  16. The temptations are all ways of distorting, disorienting and distracting us from our true identity and vocation: to be fully and truly human carriers of the divine as we live a life of self-giving love.

  17. What are the distractions you are tempted with that keep you from living into your calling?

  18. When Jesus refused to go the way of the tempter he was embracing the way of the cross. The enticing temptations were meant to distract Jesus from his central vocation, the path of servanthood and love that would lead him to suffering and death.

  19. The temptations we face at critical moments of decision and in everyday life have exactly the same point – they are not simply trying to entice us to sin – they are trying to distract us, to turn us aside from the path of servanthood, love and union.

  20. Where are you being tempted to preserve your own life? Where are you looking for security?What areas of your life have you been unable to release control of?How are you portraying an image of yourself that is not truly you? Where in your life are you looking for affirmation and acceptance?

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