Imago Gospels - 43 - Temptation
I posted a similar picture to this one a few days ago, but this is moving a little bit to the left from where I was shooting the other day. Once again, this is the Blyde River Canyon in South Africa - an absolutely stunning and beautiful sight to behold. Throughout our visit there, we saw signs telling us that it wasn't safe to go any closer to the edge. Unlike a lot of places here in the US, there weren't railings everywhere around there. If you wanted to walk right up to the edge and peer over, it would not be a challenge to do so. So, I was reminding my daughter about that several times over as were other parents with their children. In this chapter, we have Jesus being tempted in several different ways and there's both a literal and a figurative, "don't come any closer." There's a literal as Jesus is taken to the top of a high mountain to look over everything and be tempted by the power that he could take advantage of. There's also the figurative in the temptations as a whole that he is facing. The closer we get to temptation, the more likely it is that we will succumb. Like this canyon, the closer to the edge will give a greater sense of beauty (and a better photograph says the photographer), but each step is a closer step to the edge. Temptation is a natural part of our lives, but I have to daily remember the challenge that I need to watch how close to the edge I walk.