As a child I remember listening to the radio in the car on the way to school with my father. My favourite part of the morning was always the daily comedy segment, which on one occasion introduced me to the story of the woman who, bringing a new dress home, informs her husband that “the devil made me do it”.

As much as we may love to blame the devil for all that is wrong about us, we know in our hearts that we are the problem. As the saying goes, “we have seen the enemy, and it is us.” I am not trying to deny that there are forces of evil that seek to manipulate us into their service, but, I do believe that we choose the extent to which these forces have their way.

This is an important element in the Lenten invitation – the call to journey with Jesus through the desert to face our own unique temptations and wrestle them to the ground. For Jesus the temptation lay in who he was, and what he had come to do. As God in the flesh, come to reconcile the world to God, the temptation was to use his power for his own ends, to draw attention to himself in coercive and undeniable ways, to partner with those he came to oppose in order to make his job easier. Make no mistake, Jesus was truly tested by these temptations, and if he had yielded to even just one of them, his ministry, and our world, would have been totally different.

There is a simple message hidden in this story. It is fashionable to focus on human nobility and goodness, to direct our attention to what we can accomplish and turn our gaze away from our weaknesses and flaws. But, this is a recipe for disaster. As we face the greatest financial crisis of our generation, the temptation is to focus on restoring the system. But, the system is broken and flawed, and without acknowledging this, we will only set course for a repeat of the pain.

So, here’s an invitation to journey through Lent with a disturbing awareness. As individuals and communities, let’s take time to explore our own particular temptations – whether to self-aggrandisement, or to greed, or to exploitation and manipulation of others, or to addictive consumption. Let’s allow the force of the darkness within to confront us. Let’s do the work of truly understanding what the consequences of yielding might be. And then, with Christ, let’s allow the Scriptures, and the God they direct us to, to lead us out of darkness and into God’s marvellous light.

Perhaps we can allow our worship to be a little more reflective and confessional in this season. Perhaps we can allow more time for prayer and counselling in special ways, inviting our people to do this work for themselves. Perhaps we can adopt a new discipline – fasting perhaps, or special acts of compassion – that help us resist the darkness in us. Whatever practical means we may choose, I believe that this year, perhaps more than any time in recent memory, it is crucial that God’s people do the work, and teach others to do the work, of facing our temptations.