Luke 4:1-4 (NIV)
3The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
4Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.
Last night, I couldn't sleep. For me, that is a thankfully rare experience.
But, I've been under the weather for a couple of days, and have slept a lot. Last night, it finally caught up. Maybe that's a good sign that I'm almost well.
At about 4:00 AM, I decided to watch a documentary about life in a post-apocalyptic world.
Famine. Disease. Danger at every turn. No water, no medical help, no authorities.
The "experts" on the show said that a human being could possibly live up to 60 days without food. Starvation is a slow process, though painful and full of nasty side-effects along the way. This was not good insomnia viewing.
I know beyond nothing of starvation. If I decide to fast, I usually make it less than 24 hours before I'm "really hungry."
I'm dependent on our civilization to feed me. Like most modern people, even though I like to think I've got some "country" credibility, the truth is that I couldn't possibly produce all the food my family needs with the skills that I have.
I want to believe that I trust God for my bread...but what if it wasn't there for any extended amount of time?
I would panic. We all would. Have you been in the milk aisle when snow is on the way in the south? Panic.
Last night, one person on the show said, "at any moment, we're 9 meals away from anarchy."
Jesus had missed 90 meals. And yet, when tempted, he remained focused on the truth.
The spiritual outlasts and outweighs the physical. There is no panic.
"Man does not live by bread alone."
How do our lives show this truth? How can we become more like Jesus?
Grace & Peace,
Adam
2 comments:
What a surprise i woke up around the same time from barking dogs and wondering minds. Man you come back from sick leave and lay out the gauntlet, if we had the answer to the question then it would all be moot. Human nature simply doesn't allow us to look past ourselves because we have an inherit fear of lack of control.
Thats why as part of our journey we must take small steps and consider small things as outlined through Jesus' actions. Attempting to take on everything at once is overwhelming and creates false starts or self confidence issues. Just like new years resolutions (which derive from the word resolve).
I believe that to be successful in our resolve as humans due to our make up we start with the basics. Prayer and sharing time through scripture, etc. is the easiest and most puriest thing we can control and grow like Jesus. This to me provides the safe zone or confidence to take on subsequent steps toward achieving christ like traits.
I know to date my journey is riddled with many false starts because i was arrogant enough to think i can control and WILL myself through. It doesn't work that way and simply negative influences telling you that you control your life and create your own opportunities. My own experiences and limited wisdom after intense scripture reading as finally taught me that is furtherest from the truth. I now try to love others more than myself, serve others more than myself and give credit for everything that i am, will be and posses to the grace of GOD. With consistent prayer i believe that this is the path that human and external influences are insulated from and for that i am thankful.
To Jeff I say "ditto".
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