We have talked about a few of the prophecies fulfilled by the birth of Jesus in earlier posts. We will talk about the deity of Jesus more when we work through the book of John. Reading this page really had me looking at the humanity of Jesus. I must confess, my brain has a hard time really understanding Jesus being fully human and fully God. Even if I don’t verbalize my thoughts, sometimes it’s easy to discount times when Jesus was tempted, suffering, or even his ability to love, because of His deity. Jesus could handle the temptation, suffering, and love much easier than us because he is God, right? Well, maybe not.
Mary birthed a human child, Jesus. (Luke 2:7) Jesus has a mind. He does not know everything, and he had to grow in wisdom and stature. (Mark 13:32, Luke 2:52) Jesus has emotions. (Matt 8:10, John 11:33-35, Heb 5:7) He has his own will apart from God’s. (Matt 26:39, John 6:38) I must keep all these things in mind when I learn about how Satan tempted Jesus for 40 days in the wilderness. As fully human, Jesus was tempted and understands our infirmities. (Heb 4:15)
Jesus shows us by example how to overcome temptation. He is a praying man filled with the Holy Spirit and led to the wilderness. He not only knows scripture as knowledge, but he is also intimate with them. God’s word is in his heart and soul, it is his very being. (John 1:1, 1:14) He has spent personal time with God. Because of this, Jesus was able to distinguish the difference between Satan’s lies, his fleshly desires, and the still small voice of God. Jesus is modeling how we can get to know God and love God. Jesus is also showing us how to use scripture as a spiritual weapon, easily and with no arguments. How to invalidate lies with truth. It is written….. (You can read more about our spiritual weapons in Ephesians 6.) After 40 days of temptation, Jesus walked away in victory over Satan. (Luke 4:13, James 4:7) It was literally God’s word that brought me to salvation so it’s important to me and I’m passionate about the Bible.
A temptation is an enticement to do evil or a test/trial that proves our character and shows the depth or integrity of our commitment to God. We know God does not tempt us to do evil (James 1:13) and our steps are ordered by God (Proverbs 20:21). In this fallen world we stand before many kinds of temptation every day, but we have the freedom through Jesus Christ to choose the good, the truth, to choose God. (Romans 6:1-7, John 8:31-32) Whether it be a choice, a test, or a trial, huge or small, God is enough if we truly give ourselves to Him. There is a spiritual battle happening all the time in this world, whether we recognize it as spiritual or not, we are actively choosing to be faithful or unfaithful. Spending quality time in the word will help us choose to be faithful more times than not.
I really like what N.T. Wright wrote, “At the heart of our resistance to temptation is love and loyalty to the God who has already called us his beloved children in Christ, and who holds out before us the calling to follow him in the path which leads to the true glory. In that glory lies the true happiness, the true fulfillment, which neither world, nor flesh, nor devil can begin to imitate.”
Prayer
Help me Father, to look at every enticement, test, or trial, whether it is small or large as a choice to be faithful or unfaithful to You. Should I choose wrong and fail to be faithful to you Lord, help me to recognize the wrong choice, ask you for forgiveness, and know in my heart that that failure does not have power over me. Jesus died for that sin and I am able to start fresh right now. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Help me celebrate the victories as well Lord, and always find joy in You no matter the circumstance. In Jesus precious name, Amen
