Thursday, January 5, 2012

Temptation - Round 2

And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”(Luke 4:5-8 ESV)
The obvious temptation here is for power and glory - to make sure Jesus gets the prestige He deserves. But Jesus' quotation of Deuteronomy 6 takes us even futher to the core of the issue:
then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you—(Deuteronomy 6:12-14 ESV)
Satan wanted Jesus (and wants us), to detract from the worship of God by serving other "gods". For Satan, it was arrogant self-worship, and for us, it often ends up being the same. He wants us to do what he did - demand more than we deserve. So often we fall for this one.

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