The temptation of Jesus in Matthew chapter 4 has always interested me. Jesus who was with God from eternity becomes human. That in itself must have been such a sacrifice. Now in this human flawed body, he is hungry. One of the acronymns for alcoholics or anyone who is struggling with behavior change is HALT. Be careful when you are HUNGRY ANGRY LONELY TIRED. So Satan starts with physical hunger. How often Satan waits until something in our life is just a little off to tempt us. Jesus gives us the pattern for resisting temptation. He responds to choices in life through his filter, The Word of God. Satan knows His Bible too and tries to tempt Jesus by skewing the scriptures by tempting his pride (throw yourself down off the pinnace of the templeand angels will bear you up) and greed (I will give you all the kingdoms of the world). Jesus answers every choice with scripture. As a therapist, I use the word choice because the word temptation seems more sinister. Our lives are filled with daily choices. We don't even realize how many choices a day our freedom give us. Not all choices are bad. Coffee or tea, orange or apple, black shoes or brown. With life so full of choices, we have many more altering choices, positive attitude or negative, worry or faith, selfishness or giving. Lord Jesus, help me each day to use how You handled choices in life, through the filter of the scriptures. Help me to surrender my will to Thy Will be done in my life, as it is in heaven.
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