Be so immersed in God’s Word so that we cannot help but to use the truth to resist those temptations.
Temptation looks differently for each of us. A New York cartoonist illustrated temptation to look like three pigs being fed by a farmer. As the farmer was filling up the trough with food, one of the pigs turned to the other two and asked, “Why do you think the farmer is so good to us?”
When Satan tempts each of us, he is just like the farmer fattening each of us up for the slaughter. Temptation always looks appealing at first, but if we eat of it like the pigs, we will each be drawn into the misery, bondage, and heartbreak.
What are your temptations? What are those areas and things in your life that when you get close to them, you just become weak? We all have real temptations that we face every day and we have to come to the realization that satan is real. He wants nothing more than to steal, kill and destroy us (John 10:10).
God led the Israelites into the desert where they were tempted for forty years before they entered the Promised Land. Like the Israelites, Jesus was led into the desert to be tested for forty days before he began his ministry. Jesus’s temptations were real. Satan put very real things in front of him that could have caused Jesus to turn away from His mission and relationship with God. Satan dares Jesus to glorify himself with his own powers, dares Jesus to test God, and offers Jesus all the power and pleasure of the world. Are these not the same areas that Satan tempts you and me? I am not sure for you, but for me, I have been tempted away from God by trusting in myself—pride. I have demanded God prove himself to me—also a pride issue. I have chosen to put my value in my achievements, my material wealth, and my happiness/pleasure over God.
1 John 2:16 (NLT) says the following, “For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.”
Jesus knew that he could use his powers to give into satan and to receive what he was offered, but he was not willing to use His powers for selfish desires. Instead, Jesus used scripture to resist the temptations. Let this be a lesson for each of us to be so immersed in God’s Word so that we cannot help but to use the truth to resist those temptations and to guide us in our everyday walk.
