Temptation

Matthew 4:1-4, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Satan is active in this world and life. He won’t stop until he is stopped by Jesus Christ at His Second Coming (or Parousia). As we can tell from reading from Matthew, Jesus was hungry after fasting for forty days and nights. Most of us would be hungry after a one day fast (me included). Satan used Jesus’ hunger as a moment of perceived ‘weakness’ to lure Jesus into his snare and engage Him for his purposes rather than to serve God as Redeemer and Restorer. Jesus put a very quick halt to Satan’s march and gives us in this lesson an understanding of what it takes to live into God’s expectation of us, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” We cannot survive merely with sustenance for the physical we are composed of a spiritual self or soul that requires spiritual food or sustenance that only comes from God through Jesus Christ.

Prayer: Loving God, You have made us in Your very image to be fed by Your very hand and desire. Feed us with Your holy will and by Your loving heart. Lead us into Your perfect Way, Jesus Christ, for it is in Jesus Name that we pray. AMEN.