Teen Devotional: Lessons from Jesus' Temptation

“1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:1-4, NASB)

Jesus was tempted to assert divine power to meet His physical need - one that could not (humanly) be met at that time and place.  Jesus was tempted to not wait for his heavenly Father to take care of it in His time and way.  It wasn’t that Jesus didn’t need food.  It wasn’t that his desire for food was wrong.  But God did not want His Son, who was 100% God, 100% man, to use his “God privileges” to “sail” through life.  God wanted Jesus to be our example of dependence on and submission to the Father in everything.

“5...this attitude… was… in Christ Jesus,6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself...  (Philippians 2:5-8, NASB)

Jesus didn’t comply with the desire of his body at that moment, but curiously he didn’t even respond to temptation by praying for God to provide His needed food, which is what I would’ve done, I think. I find Jesus’ answer to the temptation interesting, because he didn’t simply refuse what would’ve been sinful for him.  Instead he shows us that God’s Word is truly essential for life; without it we cannot really live.  God, His Word, His kingdom -- these are the foundation and meaning of life.  Not comfort, not pleasure, not work or school or marriage.  (Please read Matthew 6:25-33 also.)

After Jesus endured temptation (without sin - Hebrews 4:15), God’s angels came to minister to him (Matthew 4:11).  We can rest in the fact that God is faithful to see our needs and meet them, as we honor and obey Him.  We should follow Jesus’ example, instead of trying to work things out in our time and way.  God is good and His ways are the ways of blessing.

New American Standard Bible (NASB)
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