"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen"
I am going to break this piece of The Lord’s Prayer into two sections:
The first part: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
And the second part: For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen
This week, I will comment on the first section, and I’ll cover the second section next week.
Many people get confused with this piece of the prayer. There have been many that refuse to believe that Jesus of Nazareth ever spoke these lines of the prayer. I can understand why, if they are unable to see the whole picture.
A mystic has told me that theologians and philosophers (or anyone who has not had a spiritual experience) trying to understand the spiritual messages of the scriptures is like you trying to satisfy your hunger by looking at a menu. Everything is there in black and white, but you have to actually experience the food on the menu to be satisfied. Similarly, one must be able to see past the black and white words on the pages to understand the deeper meanings of the scriptures. And even then it is hard. But if you have faith that the words are true, the meanings eventually do come to you.
How can God tempt us, people ask?
That’s easy. God has made everything. At times, this world can be a very beautiful and intoxicating world, full of pleasures that give us temporary happiness.
Everyone can agree upon that, correct? Yes, at times it also can be the opposite, as I have said many times. That is because we live in a world of duality where you cannot have one without the other.
But there are those who can get lost by continuously chasing after the temporary pleasure that are available. We see that all the time. I want a better job…a faster car…a bigger house…a partner who really understands me, etc., etc. Not that there is anything wrong with getting some of those things; a lot of times we need them, as our family grows and our needs grow, but a lot of times many of us are caught up with keeping up with “The Joneses”’ as we used to say years ago. We get caught up in the propaganda on how we are supposed to look on the outside and forget about the inside…our spiritual life.
I have been told by many saints that God will give most of us everything we want. God will give us the “toys” in life and many people manifest them through their practice or metaphysics; directly or indirectly. But once we figure out that the outside things are only temporary happiness, and put down the “toys” and go within, God comes running to us, just like when a mother gives her child toys to occupy him so that she can do her work, then the child becomes bored with the toys, throws them down and starts to cry, the mother comes running to him and picks her child up and comforts him. God will comfort us, when we put down the toys.
What do we really want…the toys or the toymaker?
So the first part of the first section can be understood. We can be tempted; it is God’s creation that can tempt us. We can still enjoy God’s creation and not be tempted…by seeing God in all of it.
The second part of the first section is “deliver us from evil.”
This, too, is rather a simple one to understand, but here in the West we are so wrapped up in “words” and the word evil has such a “bad” connotation.
It is simple. In this context, evil means separation. Anything that separates us from our true purpose, our relationship with God, anything that separates us from living the life God would want us to have, would be considered evil. Evil spelled backwards is Live. Living our true purpose in life, what human life is meant for, is what our journey back home to Godhead is all about. Discovering all of God’s creation, but not being overwhelmed or overshadowed by the toys and the painful experience, is part of the journey back home. We might not understand why all the things in life are happening, but faith will help ease the burden, knowing that it is all happening for the highest good for all of mankind.
Peace. Namaste. Ah-Man.
Michael
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