Resisting Temptations

Mt.4:1, ‘Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.’

As per the gospel of Mathew, before setting into the ministry, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. This sounds like a school which trained Him for the ministry. However, we face temptations every now and then and each time we overcome, we are led into next phase of spiritual life. And each time the temptations overcome us, we are pulled back into the darkness from where the Lord has pulled us out.

Gen.4:7, ‘If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is ^[d]for you, but you should rule over it.”’  Sin lies at the door of each heart. If one lets it in, darkness is let in. If one refuses to let it in, the light inside the heart remains in him or her. Adam and Eve let it in and they were cast out of God’s presence. Abel did not let it in and hence his sacrifice was accepted by heaven. Cain let it in and was overcome by darkness. Our spiritual lives is all about this fight of overcoming temptation and sin. Let us once again learn from our Lord, who fought temptations so well that the devil had to depart from Him for a season.

 Mt.4:2-4, ^‘And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. ³ Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” ⁴ But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” The tempter waited till Jesus felt hungry. Till then he was at a distance, watching carefully for the right time. We are being watched both by God and the tempter. The moment we are weak in flesh, the tempter knocks at the door of our hearts. The knock here comes with the doubt raising arrow i.e. “If you are the Son of God…”. Doubts aim at the very identity of the Lord and it asks for a certain condition as its proof. Here it’s turning the stones into bread which met the need of Jesus that hour the most. We face several issues of life, where we need a particular solution desperately and nothing else would solve the issue. Here, in that desperateness, most of the lives easily settle for the solution, no matter which way they came in. The tempter offered bread, and that was the only solution for hunger. But the way he offered challenged His divinity. Jesus did not prove His identity by performing miracles to satisfy the tempters challenge nor his own needs. He proved His identity by obeying His Father in completeness and perfectness. How do we prove our identity of being a God’s child ? Is it through complete obedience to the Lord, or by misusing the authority given to us ? Food is one of the basic necessity of any human being. But here, Jesus proved that obeying His Father’s commandments was more necessary than the food itself i.e soul is more important than the survival of the physical body.

Mt.4:5-7, ‘Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ ”⁷ Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not ^[a]tempt the Lord your God.’ ”’ The tempter then took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple. Pinnacle is the highest point. Jesus was tempted to throw Himself down and see the angels protecting Him. Pinnacle of a temple represents pinnacle of one’s spiritual life i.e a person full of zeal for the Lord, faithfully running for the Kingdom of God etc. When one grows spiritually, the heaven rejoices much. But there is this tempter close behind like a roaring lion. The blessedness of the rich spiritual life gets into one’s heart more than the Lord Himself and the fear of His holiness, and one is easily lifted up in pride. In Old Testament, we see King Uzziah who became a king at the age of 16 (2 Chronicles 26). He prospered much as long as he sought Lord and obeyed him and as a result he was blessed much. But then his heart was lifted up in pride and God struck him with leprosy the rest of his life. In New Testament, apostle Paul was used much. But lest he would be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations, the Lord allowed a thorn in his flesh (2 Cor. 12). Paul prayed for deliverance thrice but the Lord answered that His grace was sufficient for him. The apostle lived and served the Lord with that thorn, which kept him humble all through out. Pride is embedded in the flesh of any man and we are all born in sin. God hates pride. So even when we are used much for His glory, let us take much efforts to humble ourselves, to crucify  pride and to fear His holiness, for without holiness, none can see Him.

Mt.4:8-10, ‘Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, ^[b]“Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”  This time the tempter took Jesus to an exceedingly high mountain to show the glory of kingdoms of the world. Surely the blessings of this world and its glory is attractive to any eye, unless its spiritually discerned. Tempter, being the lord of this fallen world, can bless any life who falls at his feet.  1 Tim.6:10, ‘For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.’ Apostle Paul clearly points out to contentment regarding wealth of this world as the only way to escape the snares of attraction and greed for the glory of this world. Jesus resisted by speaking the scripture regarding worship. If we worship God in truth and in spirit, our desire will be to serve Him. But if the glory of this world is what we admire and worship, we will serve the tempter. Worship and serving goes hand in hand.

All three temptations aimed at sowing seeds of doubt regarding the true identity of Christ. Jesus resisted all the three temptations by quoting the written scriptures, which was embedded in His heart and flowed through His tongue i.e Scriptures ruled Him. The Word of God displays the true identity of the Lord and us in relation to the Lord. His Word is our armor, our shield, our sword and our refuge from all the snares of temptations. Loving His Word is loving Him. We cannot resist temptations without His Word. May we use our time wisely to sow these seeds of eternal life in the good soil of our heart and be fruitful lives.

God bless us all.