God allows temptations that are in proportion to our spiritual condition.For example,sometimes He may allow us to make a mistake,some small indiscretion,so that we may be more careful next time;or be able to completely avoid a greater evil brought on by the cunning devil.Other times,God allows the devil to tempt us,to put us to the test.In such cases,we are given an examination and,instead of harming us,the devil does us good.Remember Elder Philaretos,who used to say,"Son,to have no temptations today is to be abandoned by God."He preferred to battle every day against temptations,so that he might be crowned by Christ.A strong person like Elder Philaretos does not avoid temptations,but rather, says to Christ,"O my Lord,send me more temptations and give me the strength to battle against them."A weak person,however,will say,"Do not permit me to be tempted,O Lord."And lead us not into temptation...But when we actually are tempted,we tend to say,"Well,I am only human and I cannot resist these temptations!"Instead,what we should say in these circumstances is this:"O my God,I am not at all a worthy being,I;m a rascal;help me become a worthy human being."I'm not,of course,suggesting that we should pursue temptations,but rather that we should confront them with patience and prayer when they do come.In every spiritual winter,we should anticipate the spiritual spring with patience and hope.The greater temptations are usually momentary,and if we can manage to escape the lure of the moment,the phalanx of demons will go away and we will be saved.When man is united with God,temptations disappear.Can the devil do any harm to an Angel?No,for he will be burnt by the Angel's presence. Spiritual life is very simple and easy;we make it difficult by not struggling properly.With a little effort,a great degree of humility,and trust in God,one can achieve great progress in the spiritual life.For the devil cannot find a foothold where there is humility,and where there is no devil,it follows that there will be no temptations. -Can one fall into some sin by divine concession? -No,for it is very grave to say that God would concede for us to sin in some way.God ever concedes for us to sin.It is we who make concessions,and the devil comes and tempts us.For example,when i'm proud,I expel divine Grace,the Guardian Angel flees,the other "angel",the devil,comes,and I smash my face on the rocks of temptation.This is our concession,and not God's. -Elder,when we have fallen into sin,is it right to say,"The tempter caused me to fall"? -I,too, often hear some people saying that the tempter,the devil,is the cause of their spiritual tribulations,when in fact it is their own fault for not confronting the situation appropriately.After all,the tempter tempts us.Can it avert us from doing evil?It's just doing its job.Let's not blame everything on the devil.There was once a novice who lived with his Spiritual Father ,and when left alone for a while,he took an egg and placed it on one of those large old-fashioned keys.Suddenly the Elder entered the room."What are you doing there?"he asked."Well, Elder,the tempter led me to cook this egg here,"the novice replied.And then a fierce voice was heard,"I knew nothing about such cunning art;I just learned it from this novice!"Some times the devil is actually sleeping.but we rouse him into action!
The Way of Love involves uniting ourselves with Christ. Our efforts should be continually focused on how we will be united with Him and keep Him continually in our heart. Our love for Christ is what must dominate both our mind and heart.
St. Porphyrios says,
What is holy and beautiful and what gladdens the heart and frees the soul from every evil is the effort to unite yourself to Christ, to love Christ, to crave for Christ and to live in Christ, just as Saint Paul said, ”It is no longer I who live, Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). He advises us to make our struggle with calmness and simplicity. We don’t gain by forcing ourselves to be good or forcing ourselves to pray. We need to do things naturally and calmly. We need to do them because of our love of Christ. With love there is no need for forcing. When we love Christ we enthusiastically long for time in prayer and to participate in the Divine Liturgy and the Sacrament of Holy Communion and Confession.
Likewise when we love God we should not struggle with temptations. When we do we only acknowledge the strength of the temptation and it gains control in you. When temptations arise focus on your love of God instead of attacking. When our mind is filled with Love of Christ there is no room to entertain temptations.
He says,
Let all your strength be turned to love for God, worship of God and adhesion to God. As we study the hymns and psalms, when we pray, devoting ourselves to love of Christ, we receive grace and are able to combat temptations with ease. The challenge is to keep our mind focused on our heart which contains our insatiable love of Christ.
St. Porphyrios
Reference: Wounded By Love, p 137
We grow spiritually both from our temptations for pleasure and the trials we face from pain. We are either drawn to something based on our appetite for it or reject it by our refusal to accept it. The spiritual tests we receive are either attractive or repulsive. These tests are not merely for our self-knowing, but hey are aimed to correct ourselves; to help our soul regain control over the biological demands of our body. It is the way we master our passions.
Let's consider temptations. We may have a simple temptation for a second helping of ice cream which only brings to us later the feeling of being stuffed and then problems with being overweight. But our desire for more pleasure temps us to take more of what we know not to be in our best interests. By rejecting a temptation we strengthen our will, increasing our capacity to do God's will. This resistance demonstrates and fortifies our self-control. But resisting temptations may be easier to master than our capacity to reject dejection, anger and disgust. While pleasure is something we can anticipate, pain is something we must wait to address. It's easier to not be controlled by temptation for pleasure than to avoid pain because we never seek pain. It often appears due to our life experience and not necessarily something we can avoid, although much pain is the aftermath of pleasure. Dealing with our temptations is our first priority.
Fr. Dimitru says,
The primordial and direct cause of man's decadence isn't an avoidance of pain but a seeking of pleasure. The avoidance of pain comes later, because it is caused by pleasure. So first we must do battle with pleasure, principally and directly. Pleasure is often sought by our previous initiative, while pain is almost always avoided, by a reaction which is produced when it arises; likewise if we wish to escape the preliminary initiative which looks for pleasure, we must also do it with a previous, contrary initiative, and if we want to escape the reaction contrary to pain which is produced the moment of the appearance of pain, we must wait for that moment to stop the reaction.... I run for pleasure as a reaction to something I am waiting for. But I must wait for the moment of pain to stop the repulsive reaction to it.We can see this in the life of Jesus. First He was tested by pleasure in the wilderness and then faced the trial of suffering in His Passion and Crucifixion.
We seek pleasure for its own sake, but also because of our fear of pain.
Fr. Dimitru says,
The restraint from pleasure and the patient endurance of suffering, far from being something negative-passive and of a weak nature, instead strengthens it and this means a spiritualization, a putting the spirit in control... . By refraining from pleasure we have taken a big step toward the spiritual force of dispassion.... . Dispassion isn't a passivity, but a concentration of the spirit in the realm of the good and of the spiritual world.
The true joy we seek does not come from pleasure. When we are no longer automatically moved by an attraction to pleasure nor fear pain, we find a peace and stability in our life. We can see the divine providence of God at work. We understand how God uses our life's situation in the world as both grace and judgment. We appreciate how we grow through our self-control to avoid pleasure and exercise patience in our times of difficulty.
In suffering we are attracted to God and tested so we will be stronger to resist future sins. Our difficulties may not be due to our own sinfulness but due to that of others. In this fallen world stuff happens and we need to be prepared to respond to all kinds of difficulty with love and patience. Our ability to endure with patience is a sign of our recognition of God's power and wisdom. We thank God for all he sends to us along our path of life. It is through our avoidance of temptations and endurance of pain that we grow our faith in Him and find true joy.
As we say in the Lord's Pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
Reference: Orthodox Spirituality, pp 170-176
