Our temptations tell us a lot about ourselves. What allures, entices, and beckons us is unique to our personalities. Not all of us are tempted toward the same enticements. But knowing what summons us is a good indicator of what we desire and of what we ought to avoid. 

Short Cuts

My greatest desire is to have depth in my relationships with friends and family. I know that all relationships begin at a surface level, that not everyone wants to be my emotionally intimate friend and that all relationships take time to mature. But knowing these facts does not keep me from flirting with impatience; my greatest tempter.

I like how Oswald Chambers says that temptation is a suggested short cut to the realization of the highest at which I aim. 

The difficulty that arises when I am aiming toward depth, trust and vulnerability in a relationship, is that it never happens according to my timeline. Here again, I am not ignorant of this fact, nevertheless, this knowledge does not keep me from being enticed by impatience. 

 When enticed by impatience, I fall prey to the erroneous idea that there is actually a shortcut to having what I want; emotional intimacy in my relationships. 

Impatience lures me into thinking that somehow I have the power to force, coerce, or convince someone to skip over the preliminaries and just get to the crux of the matter; satisfying my desire for a relationship without reservation. 

Oh my! When I get anxious and hasty, it morphs into outrage, anger and impetuous words and actions. Such behavior only displays all the reasons why I shouldn’t be trusted. 

But, with every temptation God provides a way out for us. When tempted by my impatience for example, there is a powerful and valued virtue called patience. 

Patience gives me the power to oppose impatience within myself. With patience, I can apply grace, equanimity and even temperedness to myself as well as toward others. Cultivating a calm, peaceful and quiet disposition takes time though. A tranquil and content state of mind does not happen quickly, but instead over the long haul of practicing a tranquil state of mind; one that comes when I surrender my impatience.  

Why bother knowing our temptations? Knowing my propensity toward my enticement; impatience, allows me to aim toward something much better; patience.