Have you ever been tempted by things that you knew you didn’t need? Have you ever bargained with God or told Him how He should show His love to you? Have you ever been tempted to do things you knew you shouldn’t do? Did you resist the temptation?
Jesus was tempted in this way and His words teach us how we should respond when we encounter such temptations. After Jesus was baptized He went into the desert. I find Matthew 4:1 very interesting, “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.” Why did this have to occur? I believe one reason is to teach us how we should respond when we are in the desert and we are being tempted. Hebrews 2:18 gives us this reason for His temptation, “Because He Himself suffered when he was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.” We are tempted because we have a sin nature in us as mere human beings but God provided a way for us to be free of temptation. I also believe He was tempted in order to take the sin of mankind upon Him. If He would have sinned in temptation He could have not provided a way for us through His sacrifice, He had to be a perfect lamb to be sacrificed for us. But it is easy to be perfect when we are not tempted, so He had to prove His perfection through temptation. Look at Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a High Priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.”
With that being said, let’s go back to Matthew 4 and see the example that Jesus gave us in how we too should respond to temptation. Matthew 4:2 “After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.” How often have you gone forty days and nights without food? Most of us do not sacrifice anything for forty days but think about it, is there some material thing in your life that if it were taken away from you, you would be hungry for it? Maybe it is television, your favorite soft drink or alcoholic drink, chocolate, cigarettes, and the list goes on and on. If you are trying to be free from those material temptations let’s see how we should respond to the temptation of them. Matthew 4:3 The tempter came to Him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Now Jesus was hungry and it would have been very easy for Him to make bread from stones but remember, He is being tempted. Matthew 4:4 “Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”’ I can admit to you that I am guilty of running to the chocolate when I get stressed. Next time when I am tempted by the addiction of chocolate that I should not have, I should pick up the word of God instead and dwell on it. What about you? Jesus took words from the Holy Scripture and used them to resist the temptation. How well do we know our Bible that we could do the same thing?
Doubting God’s love for us during difficult times is a sin that many of us have had at one time or another. It is what I believe may have prompted the book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People, Harold S. Kushner. We seem to think that if we are following God’s will that everything will be okay and we will be protected by Him. Are we not putting God to the test? In Matthew 4:6 Satan tempts Jesus by saying, “If you are the Son of God, he said, throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command His angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” What did Jesus say about that? Matthew 4:7 “Jesus answered him, ‘It is written: “Do not put the Lord your God to test.”’. Have you put God to the test by expecting to live a life without trials?
Has anyone ever promised you the world if you would come join their company? Have you ever heard, “the sky is the limit!” That is what satan promised to Jesus, Matthew 4:8 “Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you, he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Right there it tells us that the devil has possession of this world. When we strive to obtain worldly things and it becomes our priority over God, we are being tempted by satan. What does Jesus say about that? Matthew 4:10 “Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’”
When you are being tempted by satan, I trust that you will go back to the words of Jesus and fight satan off with the sword, being the word of God. As we see in Matthew 4:11, “The devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” What a wonderful image of the power we have through Jesus Christ if we only would seek Him more and resist the temptation of the devil our blessings would abound.
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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