When I walk by a bank, I don’t feel the slightest temptation to go in and rob it.  The thought doesn’t even cross my mind.  I don’t resist the temptation, because there’s nothing to resist. As I  continue down the street, I don’t relive the lost opportunity over and over in my thoughts.

Contrast that with the way I so often react when I’m walking away from some perceived grievance.  In those cases, I dwell incessantly on the slight or discourtesy or hostility, contemplating different forms and degrees of redress, or at least savoring what I might have done or said.  Often, for a while, I can scarcely think of anything else.  (It‘s probably like what the seasoned bank robber must go through who walks away from what would have been an effortless heist!)  

Why the difference?  The worldly reward of successfully robbing the bank would be substantial, while the worldly result of a successful personal ‘comeback’ would probably only be further damage to the relationship.  Yet the latter tempts me, and the former doesn’t.

When our Lord advises us to pray that we not be led us into temptation, I read that, in part, as the request that we rather be led from or out of temptation.  In other words, what we are working towards, with God’s assistance and by God’s grace, is the state of being indifferent towards pernicious temptation, as I currently – by God’s grace – am indifferent to the thought of robbing banks.

Which are the pernicious temptations?  As many as there are people, I suppose.  But if we look at the Lord’s own prayer, surely what’s striking is what comes immediately before this particular petition:  “…forgive us as we forgive others…” 

The temptation to refuse forgiveness, in Christ’s instruction, is the most satanic of all.