Matthew 4:1-11
This is a great illustration for why I am doing this whole read and blog thing this year. In a moment of temptation, Jesus was able to remember scripture clearly, and used it to fight off temptation. If it is the weapon of choice for the Son of God, I think I should use it too.
When I find myself in a moment of temptation, I can't say that the first thing to pop into my head is a passage from the Bible. It is usually my mind trying to justify whatever it is that I am tempted to do. However, I have noticed that the more I read my Bible and the more I internalize it, the voice in my head trying to justify my actions gets drowned out by what I truly should be doing.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that
by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
This is what I believe Christ did by quoting scripture. He was testing what Satan was saying against what He knew scripture to say. That was how He discerned what God's will was. Many times we over spiritualize trying to discern God's will.
I don't think He always gives us a clear cut and dry path that He wants us to take. Since He is our loving Heavenly Father, it may delight Him to place more than one option that He approves of in front of us. We should test them against the Bible and then if there is more than one left and God has not given us clear direction, then we should just make the best decision that we know how to make.
This is not what Satan was doing. When he puts something in our path that is not right for us, it will contradict the Bible. That is why we should be ready to test the options before us with scripture. Not only will it help keep us from sinning, it will also help us discern the will of God.
We see two things that are import in Jesus' life. First, He again fulfilled prophecy. The reason this is important is the more prophecies that He fulfills, the harder it will be once He is resurrected.
Second, we see that John's ministry ends and Jesus' picks up with the same message. John truly was the forerunner of Christ. Not only did he come before Jesus, he was preaching the message that Jesus would preach. He began preparing the hearts of the people for Jesus, and gave Him a ready made following, in a sense.
I cannot possibly count the number of sermons that I have heard on this passage. It is always the same: We should have the faith that they did and not question Jesus, but just follow Him when He calls us.
And yet, I still do not. I am guilty of not following His every command and call. He will call on me to do this or that, and I find and excuse, not obey. It is quite pathetic. And yet I continue to do it. This is one thing that I desperately need to fix.
One thing bothers me about this great crowd. Here we have thousands of people following Jesus and seeing His miracles first hand. Where did they go? When He was on trial, where were they? After the resurrection, why were there only 120 gathered together?
I think the crowd that followed Him and ran to Him to get healed were the same kind of people that make up the church in America. We will pack the stadiums to go to "faith healings" or worship with our favorite band. Or maybe we are listening to our favorite speaker. However, when it comes down to it, we really aren't following Christ. We are just in love with the "high" we get from these type of things. We feel good about ourselves and we go home to live our lives. We aren't the ones that meet in the upper room to pray.
Prayer
Lord, please help me to not be one of the people in the crowd that follows You like You are just the next big thing, but instead I want to follow You as the Lord of my life. You are not the new thing in my life, but are my entire life. I live for You and for You alone. It is you that I desire to know and love. It is you that I want to be devoted to.
Lord, I am not as obedient as I should be. I should follow Your every command the moment that You give them. I am disobedient and stubborn. I repent of not following your path that You have laid before me. I have not tested the options before me to make sure that they are Your will for my life. I have fallen into temptation this way.
As I learn to walk in Your ways, Lord, please show me the correct path and direction that You would have me take. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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