“If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31).
Jesus Christ is God the Son, God made Man. This means that He is perfect God and Perfect Man at the same time.
And I have been thinking about that today as I have been thinking about the temptations of the Evil One to God…
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward He was hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But He answered, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’’...Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.” (Matthew 4:1-11).
I have been thinking most particularly about the first temptation – the temptation to eat… There was Christ, very very hungry after a long period of fasting. And there was the Evil One, whispering in His ear – eat. Now eating would not have been so terrible would it? After all, He is a Man – albeit a perfect man – and that means that we must surely expect that He would want to eat… And yet, Christ said no to the food. Why?
The answer is pretty simple… Christ does not cheat. He is like you and me in all things except sin. And that means that when He was hungry or tired as a Man He was no better than me, when I am hungry and tired. In fact, His suffering in hunger and tiredness was far worse than yours or mine could ever be, because Christ could CREATE food to satisfy His hunger, and yet He chose not to…
And He made this choice to show weak souls such as mine that He could withstand a far greater temptation than anything that I am tempted with. After all, Saint Paul says, “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:31).
And I have been thinking about that too today, as I reflect on how many times I have cheated in the past. Because every single time that I give in to a temptation, I absolutely cheat… But the person I am cheating is only myself. After all, if God Himself – who has the power to do whatever He wants – decided not to give in to temptation, then who am I to give in so easily?
And when I think about it like that, I stand in awe of my Lord and God. After all, He is so perfect that He could have anything that He desired, and when Christ – God Himself – was faced with that choice, He decided to take exactly NOTHING. And He did that to show my weak little soul that I require NOTHING other than the Holy Will of God…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
Comments