Temptations to sin are sure to come

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Article for October 5, 2025

Luke 17:1–2 1[Jesus] said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.

If you believe in God, Yahweh Elohim, that is Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit then you should understand temptation.  Temptation is more than being told to have another piece of chocolate cake or another helping of good food.  The temptation that Jesus is speaking about is the temptation of the flesh and sinful desires.  Yes, gluttony is a sin too, so only have one piece of that delicious apple pie.

We have people of all statures who try to tempt us with the sins of the flesh.  We have people who tempt us with wanting more than we can afford.  Be careful, that your eyes don’t cause you to covet what other sinners try to make a “must have.” 

Just look at what is in the advertisements we see on the television.  They advertise the possibility of winning big and don’t advertise the side effects caused by losing.  More people get poor trying to win than getting rich.  It becomes a sickness to some that is better to avoid.  Lavish and luster might look good, but pipe dreams do not, especially when the pipes are rusted on the inside so you can’t see that rust.

Luke 17:3–4 3Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”

Jesus says, “pay attention to yourselves.”  We should all remember that we are sinners too, and all sinners want to be forgiven, even those who think they do not sin.  Look in the mirror of God’s law and see yourself before judging your bother or your sister, or your neighbor, you will see a sinner in that mirror.  We all sin and should first admit that trait in us before we decide to forgive or not to forgive.

Do you repent of your sins?  Jesus says, if your brother repents every time he sins against you, then you need to forgive him.  Let me ask you this, is your repentance real or do you just say the words or go through the show of false emotions. 

If one truly repents and is truly sorry for what they did to you, then forgive them.  But here is where we might think we have the power not to forgive.  Is your repentance true repentance?  You see, Jesus has forgiven us before we repented, can you forgive even when the repentance does not seem to be there.  This is why Jesus says, “pay attention to yourselves.”  We should always strive to be like Jesus and always be of the mind to forgive.  But in saying that, please do not be in-the-mind to condone or accept sin.

Luke 17:5–6 5The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

This might make some feel poor in faith, especially if one has tried to verbally order a mulberry tree to uproot itself and command it to throw itself into the ocean.  Remember this, God is not looking for a cutoff point of faith.  God is looking for faith, yes, but He is not measuring your faith.  In saying this, we should always pray that God will increase our faith, but we also must keep our eyes wide open and our ears clear for hearing.

God is working on increasing our faith.  Through our prayers, our honesty about ourselves, our worship, our means to forgive, our means to follow Him our God.  God increases our faith when we recognize what He has done for us and praise and thank Him for it.

Luke 17:7–8 7“Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’?

God is our master, not that we serve him like we would serve our master as a butler, maid, or cook these things made up by mankind.  But that we serve our God through faith, learning, and putting into action the means of God’s mercy and grace to one another.  The field is hard, and the plowing of the field is at times very difficult.  We should be that servant that comes in from the hard work of the field and serve our God first before we serve ourselves.  The hard work is spreading the gospel to deaf ears; the field is the world around us.

Regardless of our vocation, we should cleanup, dress properly and not take the attitude that God should accept me as I am.  Actually, we should have the attitude to be our best when in the presence of our great and awesome Lord God.  For we will eat and drink and be nourished with food and word by the very body and blood of our Savior Jesus Christ. We have a God who loves us and serves us even when we are not worthy.  Remember the Father has sent His son to die for us.  Don’t expect God to thank you or at least realize we have already received a thanks that is really and simply a gift unearned. 

Luke 17:9–10 9Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

We are unworthy of a thanks and the gift God chose to give to us.  Jesus knew of our unworthiness and chose to die to pay the penalty for our sins regardless of our worthiness.  Yes, we do our duty to worship, to follow, and to come together as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.  But out of the great love of our God, He saves us to be with Him for all eternity.  Not that we earned anything as we continue to be unworthy, but that the gift of God surpasses all understanding given to the unworthy who were made worthy through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

      Written by Pastor Curtis A. May