A shocking truth about the temptation of Jesus is that Jesus
was led into the wilderness by the Spirit. The devil was the tempter, but the Holy
Spirit brought Jesus to the environment of temptation. Many people believe that
they face temptation with neither God’s presence nor God’s involvement in their
story. Nothing could be further from the truth! While temptation may expose your
weakness, it could just as well be the display of your God given strength. God is present and interested when you face
temptation because he wants you to stand firm and conquer!
Jesus was hungry after fasting for forty days!
The tempter prodded him to use his power to solve his immediate need for food. While
hunger is a legitimate need, Jesus recognized an even deeper need than the desire
for food – his need for the word of God! He rightly prioritized his needs, trusting
that meeting the deeper need would result in the lesser need being met as well.
This takes serious trust in and reliance upon God! Spiritual maturity eludes
many people because they are so busy meeting their lesser needs, they never get
around to pursuing their deep spiritual needs. Jesus gave us wisdom concerning
this when he said, “Seek first the kingdom
of God
At his baptism Jesus heard the voice from
heaven say, “This is my son whom I love. With him I am well pleased.” The
tempter challenged Jesus to prove himself to be loved by God. Jesus, however, secure
with his status as God’s beloved, felt no need to prove anything to Satan! Secure
in God’s unfailing love, Jesus was comfortable with his identity. Lacking a
need to test God or prove himself, Jesus refused the temptation to prove he was
loved, choosing instead to simply enjoy being loved by God. Satan never
understands this because there is no prideful motivation here at all. Once you
make the primary decision to empty yourself, Satan cannot use your pride to
trip you up!
After two failures, apparently Satan realized that the “if
you are the Son of God” track was not working, so he switched to a more basic
temptation. Satan appealed to the natural human desire to “have it all,” offering
Jesus “the world” in exchange for his worship. Jesus, of course, wanted it all
and more. And it was because of the “and more” that he was not taken in by the
bait and switch of Satan. Jesus knew the spiritual reality behind the
statement: you are the slave of the one you obey! (Romans 6:16) Jesus later
asked famously, “What can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” He was
already privately and publicly committed to be God’s servant so he refused to
offer Satan the worship he so eagerly desired. Jesus did not give into the soul
crushing sin of idolatry, rather he humbly honored God. Satan himself,
apparently, fell for this temptation!
Satan knew he had been defeated by Jesus who was neither
insecure in himself nor doubtful of his status with the Father. Jesus triumphed
because he lived from the fullness of his faith and not the emptiness of his fears.
We would do well to live like that!
-
Kenny Payne
