After
fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If
you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Jesus
answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on
every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”
Matthew 4:2-4
Being in servitude to God means there are going to be times where we do what we would prefer not to do. In today’s verses, Jesus is tempted by the Devil in the wilderness. As we see, the Devil tempted Jesus like he often does us; at His weakest point. If you are like me, we typically are not thinking straight when we are hungry. Here was Jesus who had fasted for forty days! Pretty safe to say that hunger might have been an issue here. So the Devil appealed to His ‘son of God’ side noting nothing is impossible for Him. Why not indulge yourself a bit, and make some bread to eat. One of Jesus’ greatest attribute is His devout servitude to God at all times. His response was predictable noting it is of greater importance to live on God’s word than it is to serve myself. This story reminds us of that simple phrase, “Easy to say, and hard to do.” The reason it is so difficult to uphold is we love so many things that it at times clouds our judgment as to what do we love more. I love God, but sometimes I feel like I love my wife, my children, and even more troubling, myself more than God. I say this as admission of my own flaws hoping others might ask themselves the same question. We must always remember that serving God when it conflicts with other wants and needs is an absolute must. We may not like or enjoy it. However, our spiritual growth is dependent on it.
Serving God is both humbling and a blessing. He does so much for us in terms of love, grace, forgiveness, and protection that we may not truly understand the depths of the blessings given to us. Furthermore, He gave us a shining example of how we are to live through His son Jesus Christ. This is indeed a tall order for as Paul humbly wrote why is it so difficult to do what I ought not do (Romans 7:15). However, Jesus took that burden on the cross so that we would be able to connect with God in spite of those and other flaws of ours. So get out of your own way, and serve as He is worthy to serve. How will you respond when your wants conflict with God’s? What steps can you take to ensure your love for God supersedes love for other things? My prayer is that we continue to grow in our love for God realizing that at times, it ain't easy. Amen.
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