Thy Will Be Done

Luke 4: 9-12

"Then the devil took Him to Jerusalem, and placed Him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, He will command His angels concerning you, to protect you, and On their hands they will bear You up, so that You will not dash Your foot against a stone.'

Jesus answered him, 'It is said, Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

The third and final temptation is Jesus throwing Himself from the temple roof and having angels catching him.  This actually sounds exhilarating, but I don't think the thrill was the temptation.  

Think about it, during all of these temptations, Jesus is still the worn out, starving man who had been praying and fasting for forty days in the wilderness.  He hasn't gone to the local Kabob with friends and fixed Himself up before facing the devil; He has faced the devil at the bitter end of this time.  I would have been tired, weak, cranky, and very short with patience by this time, probably would have snapped before the first temptation.  "Really?!  You're trying this AGAIN?  Can't I just get back to civilization and sustenance?  You want me to jump off of a building, fine.  Watch me make it to Joseph's over there and enjoy his wife's cooking..."

Well, let's be very thankful that none of us had to be in His position, with the world's salvation hinging on His strength and faith.  Jesus stood His ground.  The devil even thought that he would play Jesus's game and quote scripture, but Jesus had another.

"Do not put the Lord your God to the test."

Ouch!  That had a double meaning possibly?

First of all, it was showing that Jesus was going to follow God instead of being God, and He was going to be humbly human instead of enjoying His Prince of Everything status. 

The second could be a command to the devil himself.  "Do not put the Lord your God to the test."  Well, Jesus is the Lord over everything, including the devil.  Perhaps this was Jesus's way of telling the devil, "Look, stop tempting me.  It's not going to work."

Game, set, and match!

But wait, there is one more verse:

Luke 4: 13

"He [the devil] departed from Him until an opportune time."

In other words, "To be continued..."

Thy Kingdom Come

Luke 4:5-8
"The the devil led Him up and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.  And the devil said to Him, 'To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please.  If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.'  Jesus answered him, 'It is written, Worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him.'"


Well, we are just making our way through these verses, huh?  Just to recap, Jesus has just been filled with the Holy Spirit and been fasting and praying in the wilderness for forty days.  And now, when He is weak and tired, the devil has decided to tempt his Maker.  You know, just the fact that the devil is allowed to tempt Jesus says a lot about our God.  The devil is the guy that tries to ruin everything God has touched.  He is the enemy, and he has the gall to approach his rejected Maker with temptation.  And he is allowed!  Jesus hears him out.  I wonder if Jesus has the same hope of reuniting with His fallen angel as He does for reuniting with His fallen children.  He found a loop hole for us...

This second temptation at first seemed like such a no brainer to me.  How on earth did the devil think that he could trip up Jesus, the Son of God, a third of the Holy Trinity, by suggesting that Jesus worship him?  What was the atmosphere like after he asked Jesus this?  Did he realize how silly his temptation seemed?  Did Jesus raise his eyebrow or chuckle at the audacious request?

But there had to be a temptation in there somewhere.

How many of us really want to know when, where, and how we are going to die?  I personally don't.  Well, Jesus knew exactly when, where, and most importantly, how.  He was brutally crucified on the cross, an innocent killed in the most graphic way.  Why?  Because we are worth more to Him than life itself.  He wanted nothing more than to have His estranged children back with Him.  And here, the devil is offering Jesus an easy way out: no blood and pain necessary...just bent knees.  This is definitely the kind of looping "promise" the devil is known for: I'll surrender everything if you surrender to me.

In giving into this temptation, Jesus would be getting what He most wanted, His kingdom.  All He needed to do was forsake who He was.  How easy is it to forfeit a little of your identity just to make things less of a struggle?  There are two radio stations that I listen to, KLOVE and AIR1.  Their goal is to give people a positive radio haven with encouraging words and songs and to spread the Good News. Both are listener supported, and there have been incredibly skinny times for them. Well, a year ago, I think they both only got somewhere between 60-80 percent funded, meaning they were going to have to cut some locations and probably employees.  This struggle could have been easily alleviated if they had just decided to sacrifice their commercial-free status and looked for corporate funding like all other radio stations.  Sure, this would change some time of their programming and probably make them answerable to people who don't fully support their message, but they would be able to save their employees and locations.

They decided to trust in God (a touch back to Jesus' first temptation), and this year, they reached 100 percent funding early on their pledge drives!  Jesus also declined the devil's offer.  First of all, the earth's kingdoms aren't his to give, and second of all, Jesus wasn't primarily after the glory and authority over the kingdoms.  He was and still is after our hearts.

Of course, Jesus is reinforcing the habit of using the word of God as a defense and uses the first Commandment, "You shall have no other gods before Me."  I really wonder if the devil had a fist-to-forehead moment.  Of course!  That is the one scripture a child could have called upon.  How would Jesus not think of it?  So now, Jesus is two for two...

Our Daily Bread

Luke 4:3-4

"The devil said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.'  Jesus answered him, 'It is written, One does not live by bread alone.'"


As discussed in the previous post, the devil tested Jesus when He was "full of the Spirit".  Why?  Perhaps it was because Jesus had fasted in the wilderness for forty days.  Perhaps the devil was banking on His human side.  That is something that I forget about so much in my picture of Jesus: that He is fully God and fully human.  It is stories like this that remind us that He really does understand the trials and pains that we are going through.

Imagine a time when you were "full of the Spirit", when you were close to God.  How long did it take for temptation's sweet lure to call you like a siren?  There have been times that it seems seconds are between the two.  Falling from our mountain tops with God is almost too easy.  Think about it: Jesus fasted in the wilderness for forty days!!!  Nearly a month and a half!  That is an excruciatingly long time to pray and meditate and reflect.  How easily could we have been distracted after even a day?

Jesus's first temptation (that we know of) is turning stone into bread.  Why didn't He?  After forty days of fasting, why would attending to His physical needs of food have been a sin?  And it wasn't like He was going to be showing off because there was no one else around.

Perhaps the lesson is that even if something is within our powers to get, we must still rely on God for our Daily Bread.  Ow, this is definitely my spiritual Achilles' heel.  I struggle with trusting God to provide when I can do it myself.  I was given my gifts by God to use them; solving my problems with them only seems proper.  Along that logic, Jesus using His divine powers to feed Himself seems completely acceptable.  But, He chose not to, responding, "One does not live by bread alone."

Another reason that this is deemed a temptation to sin could be the deal that Jesus made: to become the human sacrifice needed to redeem our tainted souls.  He wanted to be human, and satisfying His human hunger through divine means would not be human.  No man has ever been able to provide for himself without God's help.

A third reason is that Jesus never used His divine nature for His own needs.  He always healed others, saved others, fed others.  Even when the crowds are about to throw Him off of a cliff (just a few verses away, Luke 4:28-30), the Bible mentions how He simply passes through the crowd, but it doesn't have the ending "but He passed through the crowd unscathed because of His awesome Godly power."  


Giving into this temptation, as harmless as a loaf of bread may seem, is also a dangerous stepping stone.  You could call it the gateway sin.  Think about it, we've been very good people, and every once in a while, we want to just take things easy.  "I've been going to church pretty regularly; I can miss this Sunday because I so desperately need to sleep in..." "I've been reading my Bible, so I think I can be a little more lax about church, besides, I got so much done last Sunday...."  "I am so tired tonight, I will just read double tomorrow..."  and the trend continues until we wake up one day and can't remember the last time we truly acted under God's direction.  We have slowly distanced ourselves and turned to rely upon our own power.


So, this first temptation taught us probably an obvious thing: trust God to provide everything.  We've heard it a thousand times, and I guarantee that we will all need to hear it again.  But we also learned more about Jesus.  Even though His is fully God, He is also fully human and can definitely be tempted.  His time here could have been so easy and pampered if He had used His powers as freely as the devil suggests.  He could have solved world hunger; He could have made us truly worship Him by proving His status as the Son of God through His divine side.  But that wasn't why He came.  He came to make life easier for us and teach us how to live because HE LOVES US THAT MUCH!!!  

Into the Wilderness

Luke 4:1-2

"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan an was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days He was tempted by the devil."

As I said, this story helped me get to know Jesus more than any other. This may be a small part, but it opens up so many questions for me. But lets start with what we "know".

By this time, we have read the Christmas story, gotten to know Zachariah, his wife Elizabeth, and his son, John the Baptist, had a scene from Jesus' boyhood where he 'almost' got in trouble for not checking in with his parents, and seen Jesus baptized by His cousin (good ol' John B.), and learned of his heritage. Man, Jesus was definitely in a holy family: liniage going through King David, father Abraham, Noah, Adam...God. And let's not forget that John B. was his cousin, too.

Now, Jesus has been filled with the Holy Spirit and led into the wilderness. He didn't start doing miracles fresh out of the Jordan, He followed the Spirit into a wild, dangerous, unforgiving place. Sounds like the place you'd find the devil, huh?

A few thoughts went through my mind when reading these lines. What did it feel like to be filled with the Spirit? I know that the Holy Spirit dwells in us as well, but Jesus is the first human to house the Holy Spirit. Could so much power have been overwhelming to His mortal side? Being filled with a Spirit that knows all and can do all, I imagine that the physical and limited body would feel restricting and constricting. Many of the great leaders of the Bible have needed to first spend some alone time with God before they can fulfill their missions. It didn't start and didn't end with Jesus. Look at Abraham: he had to move away from his home entirely. Moses, ran into a living bush on fire but also had to repeatedly get alone with God. Paul, spent years out alone with God learning the message. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by what you must do? Jesus knew full well what ahead of Him, so He ran to God.

He also ran straight into trouble. I find it interesting that so far, the places God is aren't where He is expected, which is the Temple in Jerusalam. Now, yes, God can be in more than one place at one time, but right now, the places that matter are out in the wilderness. Jesus is having to go outside of where He is comfortable. He doesn't have any of the civilization or community that He has grown up with around Him. Whatever happens, it is truly between Him and God.

Sometimes, getting away from it all seems really nice, but we always intend to return from our vacation. When I am surrounded by familular people and places, it is so easy for me to rely on myself and others to get through a trial. Imagining going through what Jesus went through isn't pleasant. What I am getting from this part is that the Holy Spirit will lead me out of my comfort zone, and I will have to rely on God (not my strength) to get back home. I definitely have room for improvement on that point.

Enter the antagonist...Why did the devil tempt Jesus? At this point, the Holy Spirit dwelling in Jesus has been referenced twice in one sentence; Jesus is fully in the power of God. What did the devil hope to achieve?

I will stop here today. Believe me, the story is just getting started. Please feel free to share your revelations as well, and I will be back next Wednesday (hopefully not at such a late hour).

God bless!

Weakness

This seems to happen a lot, huh? I write one post and then it is three plus months until the next. Sorry about that.

Last time, I tried to do a series on Hebrews 11:1, my favorite verse, and we got through maybe half of it! God truly is amazing to be able to put so much meaning into a sentence that we can study it repeatedly and still get so much out of it. Well, I think we are going to hold the Faith series to continue at another time; I have a new series!

This summer has really been a sad one for my spiritual life. The reason I haven't written in so long is because I have been so spiritually starved that it should be considered anorexic. Until today, I haven't been to church since EASTER! Why? Transitional malcontent. I've been moving quite a bit, and it hasn't made sense to me to get comfortable in a church. To be honest, I have somehow developed a bad taste in my mouth for some churches. There is something missing, but I don't know what. It doesn't help that I work two Sundays a month, makes being regular a little difficult. So, my independent nature started to take over, thinking that I could lead my own Christian life for the time being...See anything wrong with that statement?

Now that I am settled in my new home, I've started to re-evaluated where I have and haven't been with God. I began praying and making a list of what I am really seeking in a church and what kind of a church God would like for me to be in. Let's just say that I really think that He answered those prayers today.

I have also been more interactive in my quiet time. At the beginning of the month, I was drawn to the story of Jesus' temptation. There has been only one sermon that I have heard on this text, and after studying it, I wonder why. Why do we seem to passively read the temptation of our Lord? The reason I did was because of it apparent obviousness: Jesus is perfect, and we should always go to scripture when we are tempted. Pretty basic stuff, right?

Well, of course I am going to disagree with the initial glance. It has taken me about two weeks to get through just 13 verses, and I learned more about Jesus as a person than I ever have through any other story by this point. We love to talk about His wisdom and miraculous acts, but this is a story depicting Him as a human just about to face the cruel world with the Gosple. It is a story about His weaknesses...

I am going to stop here, so you can take some time and read the story yourself. The version I use was Luke 4:1-13. I promise, I will continue on Wednesday. May God reveal as much to you as He did to me.

What we can or can't do

Philippians 4:13...

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

This was my favorite quote four years ago and is still one of my tops. It definitely gives hope to the seemingly impossible while still reminding us of Who is at the center of that hope.


However, last year, I felt that this verse allowed for possibly outrageous expectations and easy disappointments.  For instance, this verse can be quoted repeatedly while I try to be a star singer, but that's not going to happen if God doesn't want me to be a singer.  It was because of this reasoning that I changed the verse to mean what I understood it to mean:

Christ can do all things through me, if He so chooses.

Christ needed to come first.  This version of the verse helps me to remember that it isn't the action that I am trying to achieve that is important but where I stand with Jesus.  The 23rd Psalm says it best:

The Lord is my Shepard; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures; He guides me beside still waters...

Though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.

Your Rod and Staff, they protect me...

As the cliche saying goes: it isn't the destination but the journey that matters.  We are resting, moving, traveling, always changing destinations in this earthly realm; however, one thing does remain constant.  Jesus is there for us, ready and willing to guide us to the paradise pastures and protect us through the shadowy valleys.  But here is the thing: the sheep have to follow the Shepard.  

Christ will support us always, and we mustn't forget that in both the positive and negative light.  If you find yourself in a dire, dreary place; He will give you what you need to come out victorious.  

The negative light is when His support becomes a power that we wield.  Ironically, God finds power in humility.  I guess this can go to say that we are strongest when we are lowest, when we jump or fall from our pedestal.  

So, Amanda, what is the punch line?  What wisdom are you going to share with us, oh holy one?

Haha, no wisdom.  And, I don't want anyone to think that I place myself  above them.  Especially in the faithful area.  I hope you all understand that I am very faulty in my walk with Jesus.  This blog is just my wonderings and ponderings and observations.


Where I stand has been on my mind a lot.  Where do I stand in relation to Jesus?  Where do I stand with my friends and family?  Where do I stand emotionally and mentally in relation to a broken friendship?  Where do I stand with myself?


I can do many things; but I can't do them alone.

Ok, I couldn't help putting a punch line ;)

From Old to New

Since we had a growing transition, I had to recreate the blog.  For a reference, though, I am linking the old to this new one, in case you would like to revisit those older ones:

Undertheson-413