Luke 4:5-13 (NIV)6And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7So if you worship me, it will all be yours."
8Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"
9The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here.
10For it is written:
" 'He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
12Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
13When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
The easy way. It's always there.
"Wide is the path that leads to destruction."
Remember where we left Jesus? Starving. Physically depleted. Spiritually strong.
Satan whispers, take the shortcut. No one is watching. You deserve it.
Jesus surely must have been tempted. Any way other than the cross.
This Sunday at SOTH, we'll talk about temptation. The Lenten discipline of giving up something that has allure and temptation...it's all about learning to lean into the strength of God when we experience our own weakness.
It's the narrow path that leads to life.
Grace & Peace,
Adam
2 comments:
Interesting. I just finished a book and forgive me as I know the title isn't exact but it was something along the lines of "Who Are You When Noone is Watching". The premise of the book is based on today's scripture. It teaches you four character traits like discipline, etc. and how to invoke these traits avoid temptation.
Essentially the book as the scripture says, as humans it is easy for us to accept temptation when noone is around. The book suggests that in order for us to get out of our own way and avoid temptation is to have a solid "Rock" foundation of faith coupled with 4 pillars of key character traits. The author reminds the reader that you can just build the pillars without the foundation.
sorry typo.. YOU CAN'T BUILD THE PILLARS WITHOUT A SOLID FOUNDATION
Post a Comment