By Jonathan Camiolo

 

I love pizza.  I mean I really love pizza.  White pizza, plain pizza, and more toppings then you can count.  I like thick crust, thin crust, brick oven and even homemade.  I love pizza.  So about a year and a half ago when I began to diet and change some habits in my life, one that needed to change was that I needed to limit the amount of pizza I was eating.  Now, that sounds ok, but I am a youth minister.  Youth ministry events always have pizza at them…and who has to order them? Yep, that would be me.  Then maybe you have to go and pick it up.  What a torture!

 

Can you imagine what Jesus had to go through when He was tempted after fasting for forty days?  I think I would have eaten anything I could possibly eat, and that is the first thing the devil tempted Him with – food.  Why?  Well, the devil likes to take a shot at us when we are at our weakest.  He does not care about us at all and simply will do anything he can to get to us.  Jesus simply responded with strength, and did not yield to the temptations.  

 

This season of Lent is often a time that we give things up.  Why?  Well, it is not to lose weight.  We are called to grow in discipline so that when the temptations of life are difficult we have the habit to rejecting the devil like Jesus did.  I had to reject the initial desire for a piece of pizza and that seemed so hard.  As time went on, it got easier and easier.  Jesus had been fighting temptations from the devil for 30 years and not once given in to sin…maybe that’s why He was able to stand up against the temptations of the devil.  Time to build some discipline and habits so we too can reject temptation.  

 

Think. Pray.  Decide. Change.

 

GOD LOVES YOU…Have a great first week of Lent!