This morning I opened my Bible to read "The Sermon on the Mount" out of curiosity from a sermon that I listened to the other day....wanted to get a closer look at the words of Jesus and what he calls me to do in this life. I read Mt. 5-7 but then went back a chapter and saw "The Temptation of Jesus" and it reminded me of Jesus' temptation by Satan in the desert. You know, I feel tempted to do things all the time...but I have never felt so badly tempted as Jesus was...out in a desert (probably pretty hot), having fasted for 40 days/40 nights (hungry and thirsty) and alone (except for God's word). One thing that hit me (that a friend of mine also recently brought to my attention) was that one of the things that Satan tempted Jesus with was the world and all it's "splendor".
-Matthew 4:6
"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.' Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him."
I (and I'm sure many others) have gone through this sort of temptation in many different forms. I happened to go through that recently. "Obey me and you can do WHATEVER you want in this life...Jazz? Okay...yeah, you can do jazz if that's what you want...just bow to ME...not God." In fact, Satan has been doing this since he first tried to take the place of God in heaven before man even existed. He is EVIL, God is GOOD...satan just knows how to deceive people into thinking that their way is better or that God is a kill-joy and just wants you to be miserable on this earth. God gave Soloman wisdom...but because he prayed for wisdom and not riches or power, God gave him all of that and more! Why do we think that we're any different? Soloman was just a man. We are equals. God loves me the same as God loves Soloman. He wants to do those things for us. Why would I sell my soul to gain the world? Things in this life are meaningless. I have been told that. I believe that. I enjoy things but it should never be "the end of the world" for me (as a Christian) if I don't have those things or if they don't come because I pray for them. God has not directly spoken to me and told me not to do Jazz or that I cannot have a husband or that I cannot have money. Maybe I am still a single, not-famous jazz artist, with no money because he wants me to know NOW how unimportant those things are so that if IF he decides to bless me in that way, I will still put Him first and still call HIM Lord until my last breath.
I think it is awesome that after Jesus was tempted with those things and then commanded satan to leave, he was joined by ANGELS. :) I don't know what that would be like...but I'm pretty sure that anything that gets to live in heaven with God right now would be pretty good company to keep. :) I am encouraged by this true story of how a sinless man was tempted just like I am and resisted all of the attempts by satan to trick him and then at the end of it, God rewarded His work with Angels. :) I hope that one day I can have an angel over for dinner. Even if I don't realize that's what they are...I know I would be blessed.
"Draw near to Him and He will draw near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." "Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up." James 4:8,10
No comments:
Post a Comment