The first and most basic temptations are to try to be like gods (Gn 3:5), or even to try to be gods. For example, Peter refused to be treated like a god (Acts 10:26), while Herod accepted the title "god" (Acts 12:22-23). Herod, therefore, "died eaten by worms" (Acts 12:23). When Sts. Paul and Barnabas heard the crowd calling them gods by the names of "Hermes" and "Zeus," they realized how dangerous this temptation was. "They tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd" in order to correct the people's mistaken attribution of divinity to them (Acts 14:14-15). Contrary to what some cults teach, we are not gods.
Rather than each of us becoming one of the gods, God became one of us. He became a man. Instead of making us man-gods, He became the God-Man. In this way, we don't become God, but we can have a share in His divine nature (2 Pt 1:4) and "become the very holiness of God" (2 Cor 5:21). We can even have God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, dwell within us (Jn 14:23). We are not gods; we are tabernacles and temples of God (1 Cor 6:19).
Be yourself. Be a human being transformed by the indwelling God.
| PRAYER: | Father, with power may I bear witness for Your risen Son (see Acts 4:33). |
| PROMISE: | "This much have I told you while I was still with you; the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit Whom the Father will send in My name, will instruct you in everything, and remind you of all that I told you." –Jn 14:25-26 |
| PRAISE: | St. Catherine of Siena called the triune God "a Satisfying Food, for You are sweetness and in You there is no taste of bitterness." |
Reprinted with permission from Presentation Ministries, a lay association of the Catholic Church that focuses on evangelization and discipleship through Bible teaching, daily Mass, the charisms of the Holy Spirit, and Small Christian Community. Their ministries include:
· One Bread, One Body
· Daily Bread Radio Program
· Annual Bible Institute
· Discipleship Retreats
· Guadalupe Bible College