Temptations

I started the New Thru 30 reading plan today! It's a 30 day reading plan through the New Testament and you can see it here. Today's reading was in Matthew and covered the genealogy of Jesus, His birth, the calling of the disciples, John the Baptist and many portions of Jesus' teaching and healing. My favorite part today was in reading Matthew chapter 4 where Jesus is being tempted by Satan. It occurred to me that these temptations are ones that we face every day. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying that we are all led by the Spirit every day to be tempted by Satan. What I am saying is that we face temptations daily and if we're not aware we can be tripped up.

For instance Satan first tempted Jesus with food. Jesus had been fasting 40 days and nights, so He was obviously hungry and weak. How often are we tempted by things when we're exhausted? Maybe we've had a long day and we're stressed out and our response to something is less than righteous. I know if I've gone a long time without food, than I can be less than nice! Jesus responded with God's Word.

Secondly, Satan tempted Jesus to abuse His power. If you have influence over another person, than you're a leader. Whether you're a parent, a manager or coordinator, there's a potential to misuse that influence to get what we want. We must guard against our own desires and lead others the way that Jesus would. Jesus again responded with God's Word.

Lastly, Satan tempted Jesus with greed. This one always makes me chuckle because in verse 9 Satan says, "I will give it all to you, if you will kneel down and worship me." (NLT) Jesus knew it was all His already, but He didn't worship the stuff. Neither should we. Living in such a materialistic world, we can be consumed with having it all. Daily we need to lay down our desires for the one desire to follow Christ and glorify Him.

We can overcome these temptations, just as Jesus did, by responding with God's Word. Keep reading and meditating on God's Word. When you need it, it will be there to help you.

Let me know if you're reading along. I'd love to hear what passages stuck out to you today.