Read: Numbers 30:1-31:54, Luke 4:1-30, Psalm 63:1-11, Proverbs 11:20-21
He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. (Luke 4:1-2)
Relate: I’ve related how Satan tempted Jesus by throwing doubt when I wrote Who Am I, and Softly Spoke the River has a great series worth checking out on how Jesus responds to temptation. Three times over those forty days Satan comes at Jesus and each time he comes at him in a slightly different way. First he attacks him through the needs of the body. Jesus is hungry. Satan tells him to turn some dirt into donuts or something like that. Jesus answers, “It is written…” Then Satan takes him to a high mountain to show him the greatest and most exhaustive (and fastest historical documentary of all time). “All this is yours,” he says. “if only you bow to me.” Jesus answers, “It is written…” Then Satan attacks his pride. He takes him to the highest part of the Temple and entices Jesus to show off a little. Jesus answers, “It is written…”
React: John the beloved wrote of these three types of temptation. He calls them the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. (1 J 2:16). Just a few verses before this he tells us how we can stand against this temptation.
I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one. (1 J 2:14)
He calls his readers children, fathers, and young men. As Christians all of us fit into each category. We are children because we have a heavenly father. We are parents because it is our responsibility to reproduce our faith in the lives of those who come after us. We are young ones because we have a spiritual birth more recent than our natural birth. It is as children we know the Father. It is as spiritual parents we know the Son, the One who was from the beginning. (J 1:1-2,14) It is as those born again that we can know the Spirit who now dwells in us. (Romans 8:11) It is through knowing God that we can overcome the evil one. In fact, the more we know of Him, the less pull temptation will have in our life. So the question is, how well do I know God?
Respond:
God, I want to know You more. I want to learn of Your ways. I want to understand Your works. But most of all I want You. More than that, I want to want You more. Give me a greater, stronger, deeper passion for Your presence. You are the only thing that lasts. Everything else will fade away like the morning mist, but You… You are what’s real.
