Good morning. Please consider with me these words from Matthew’s gospel as Jesus began His public ministry: Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Matthew 4:1 Jesus had traveled into the wilderness to put Himself into a physically vulnerable state with prolonged fasting. He had been baptized, the Spirit descended upon Him, the Father acknowledged Him, and Jesus went immediately into battle. He was tempted.
Was Jesus actually tempted? Yes, that is what the Word tells us. Was He in any way close to failure, to giving in to temptation? No, of course not. But another question is, why was Jesus being tempted? Was it because He was bad? No, not in any way. Jesus was tempted because He was important. He was important to God and He was essential to God’s plan for our salvation.
We are being tempted. Every day and in a variety of ways we are being tempted. Is it because we are bad? No, it is because we are important. We are important to God and our salvation is very important to Him. We are loved by God and to hurt us hurts Him.
We should remember our enemy’s aim with temptation: Then, after temptation has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is dully grown, gives birth to death. James 1:15 It is life and death, a broken life today and an eternal death, that is at stake.
What this means is that when temptation ends in sin, and that sin is unforgiven by God, we are separated from Him. It can be a separation that is eternal. It can be, but it doesn’t have to be.
Praise be to God that Jesus Christ is our victory! He was victorious in the wilderness when Satan came after Him with temptations. He is victorious now when Satan comes after us with temptations. My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus Christ the righteous one. He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.” 1 John 2:1-2
We are tempted, there is no doubt of that. We are tempted not because we are bad, but because we are important to God. Do we fail, do we fall prey to those temptations from time to time? Yes, we do. But praise be to God who loves us so much that He has given to us Jesus, our advocate who intercedes for us, providing the atoning sacrifice needed for our sin.
Find your strength today, that strength that is ours in Jesus Christ, and resist temptation. But should you fail, should you fall, give it to Him who loves you and let Him provide you with the needed victory.
Vern