And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one

We often think of temptation as being enticed to do something we should NOT DO.  As a result, most Christians that live morally upright lives--avoiding certain forbidden activities--mistake themselves for being righteous.

Sure, everybody has 'sinned'; I've lied, thought bad thoughts and lost my temper now and then, but that's not like murder or infidelity or theft which are the sins that require deliverance.  Because our sins are not all that bad, we don't get why we need God's forgiveness, but we'll take it anyway.

What we often neglect is the temptation to not do what we should DO.  An indication of how serious this is to God is revealed in the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-28).  Here the servant who didn't do anything with his talent was harshly rebuked as being wicked.

No, it's not enough to just avoid the obvious DON'Ts of the Bible, we have to pay attention to the DOs.  Doing good is tougher than not doing bad.  A lot tougher.

Temptations of all kinds have an all consuming quality that distract us from setting our minds on God's business.  We need deliverance from these distractions so that God gains glory from the good that is accomplished.