Monday, February 23, 2009

Say

We are currently revisiting the story of Jesus as written by Luke. Periodically, we will skip over a passage so that we can complete this gospel (“good news”) with the RESET series. Please check out Luke 3:23-38. Today, we hear a simple reminder.


Luke 4
1 Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry. 3 Then the devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone.’” 5 Then the devil took him up and revealed to him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 “I will give you the glory of these kingdoms and authority over them,” the devil said, “because they are mine to give to anyone I please. 7 I will give it all to you if you will worship me.” 8 Jesus replied, “The Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” 9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! 10 For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect and guard you. 11 And they will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’” 12 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’” 13 When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he left him until the next opportunity came.


Say. Sometimes, we make things more complex than they need to be. I have a tendency to do that with Scripture. I keep looking for a deeper meaning when all God is asking me to do is hear and embrace the obvious meaning. So today, I am going to try and embrace the obvious teaching. Jesus was tempted. I will be tempted. Jesus used Scripture to overcome temptation. I should use Scripture to overcome temptation. In order to do that, I need to know what “the Scriptures say”. That is why this daily blog is so important to me ... I need to be in the Scriptures on a daily basis.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I love this passage; Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit or full of God. He was God but chose to be man. It is like a bird that could fly but chose not too. He needed to experience the temptation for himself as a man. The power of evil is very real in this world. Jesus is showing us that when we are confronted with sin in this world the scripture will provide us a way out. It is up to us to lean on His words of understanding, resting in Jesus with that same Holy Spirit which is now available to everyone.

John 1:1-5, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it.

Monday, February 23, 2009

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