Handling Temptations

Handling Temptations

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Matthew 4:3-11

How shall we handle temptation? We have considered, for the last two days Satan’s temptation of Christ. We considered when and how he tempted Him. These things are useful for us when we seek to know when and how we may encounter temptation ourselves. We learn from Christ. So also, if we want to learn how to overcome temptation, again, we must learn from Christ. It is notable, when we consider this, that Christ, the Living Word, answered Satan by using the Written Word. On the three occasions when Satan tempted Him, Christ answered by quoting different portions of the book of Deuteronomy. Herein lies wisdom. Our answer to temptation lies in the Scripture. We find that Christ does not equivocate or attempt, in any way, to reason with Satan, aside from putting the Word of God against the wiles of the Evil One. When dealing with temptation, the Scripture is our high ground. Three times Christ declares, ‘It is written.’ We cannot improve upon that methodology for handling temptation. In order to quote the Scripture readily, Christ had to know the Scripture thoroughly. So also we, if we would have the Scripture close at hand in times of temptation, must ourselves be thoroughly acquainted with it. So let us fill our hearts and minds with the Written Word, and by that, learn to imitate the Living Word.

Our Gracious Master and Our God,
we praise You that You are acquainted with all of the temptations that we endure.
Fill our minds with Your Holy Word,
that we may have a ready answer for every onslaught of the Evil One.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning