Temptations

“Then the devil said to Him. If you are the Son of God, order this stone to turn into a loaf of bread. And Jesus replied to him. It is written. Man shall not live and be sustained by on bread alone but by every word and expression of God.” Luke 4:3-4

My reading this morning lead me to this verse and it happens to be about being tempted. I am just going to say this, if the world was dependent on me to become Savior. We would all be screwed. Because I have a weakness for food, especially bread. I am in awe that a man could go 40 days without food and still say to the tempter “Man shall not live and be sustained by on bread alone but by every word and expression of God.” I know that if I went that long without food I wouldn’t be able to say that, I would turn the stone into bread and have myself a feast.

I am tempted all the time with food. I crave it, like a junkie who craves their drugs. I seem to go into a ravenous state and just devour anything that is in my path. Many times my hunger is center on emotional matters that I am not willing to face, so of course I turn to the one friend that has been with me my entire life FOOD. When in truth I should have been turning to Jesus, who like FOOD has been there.

What I should have been doing is what Jesus did and says while being tempted in the wilderness and say “I shall not live and be sustained by on bread alone but by every word and expression of God.” Jesus was tempted two more times in Luke 4 and each time He uses His father’s words as His authority to counter attack the temptations. Hmm, pause for thought. Hasn’t God given us the same authority to fight off the temptations of this world? Hasn’t he given me that same authority too?

I don’t use it to the full potential powerful affect that it will have on all my temptations. In my readings these past couple of weeks I have learned how magnificent Jesus truly was. How he was tempted, tried, judged, and condemned for no reason but still loved us anyway and still chose to die on that cross for me. Wow, what a thought!
What temptations affect your daily life? How can you use the authority God has given you with his word to fight off the tempter?