We’ve been talking about temptation for a couple weeks now, how to deal with it, how to learn from it, etc. I’ve been reading some of Matthew, and I came across Matthew 4:1-11 – the temptation of Jesus when he fasted in the wilderness. I realize how well known this story is, but I noticed a couple things that I think are valuable to point out. Also, Jesus should be our role model, why not see how he dealt with temptation?
Ok, so Satan tempts Jesus three times, to make bread out of stones, to jump off the Temple and let angels catch him, and to bow down to Satan in exchange for everything Jesus sees from “the peak of a very high mountain”. Jesus is probably starving right now (remember, he’s been fasting for 40 days), so the first temptation is probably pretty appealing. When Satan tries to get Jesus to jump off the Temple and let angels catch him, he’s basically trying to get Jesus to show off his power. And finally, Satan tries to get Jesus to submit to him and bow down. These things were probably very tempting to Jesus, but each time, he defended himself from those temptations with Scripture. God’s Word can be something to stop temptation in our lives too. We can realize that the things that are tempting us are wrong if we know the Bible well.
One last thing that really stood out to me was verse 11 of Matthew 4. After Jesus resisted Satan’s three temptations, “the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.” If you do withstand temptation, not only will you learn from it (like Peter has been talking about), but God will reward your efforts and bless you and take care of you, just like he took care of Jesus in the wilderness.
-Anthony Formicola
That was a legendary post Mr. Formicola! Sometimes people miss that fact that Jesus used Scripture and so should we. I could totally go on a rant about the importance of Scripture but I think that if you understand that Christ was the Word in the flesh and if you value your relationship with God, the importance of Scripture should sort of become inherent. Great post my friend
By: jfreakm71 on September 3, 2008
at 3:52 am
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By: First Day of School Tomorrow!! « Learning the Ropes on September 3, 2008
at 4:42 am
Awesome! And I love how peter talked about it just a few days after this got posted.
By: Matt on September 12, 2008
at 1:13 am