Matthew 3-4 (ESV) by Wordle*

Today’s reading is Matthew 3:1-4:25.

“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Be gone, Satan! for it is written, ” ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve” ‘ ” (Matthew 4:8-10).

Don’t miss the real temptation. Satan is not tempting Jesus with kingship, rule, and power. According to Psalm 110:1-7, Jesus was already promised all this from His Father. He was going to rule all the kingdoms of the world anyway. The temptation was that God’s way to the throne was going to be hard. He had already had to leave heaven to accomplish it. He was going to spend 3 years wandering as an itinerant teacher. He was going to be rejected, mocked, ridiculed, and eventually crucified to get to rule. Satan essentially said, “Hey, why bother with all of that? Here is an easier, softer way. Just bow down and worship me once. Just once. You don’t have to do it for the rest of your life. If you just worship me here and now, you won’t have to take up that cross.” But Jesus refused. He chose God’s way, though it included the cross. And I’m so thankful, because God’s way allowed me to be saved. Satan’s way might have given Jesus rule of the world (though I’m convinced Satan is a liar and would have yanked it out from under Jesus instead of really giving Him the rule), but it would have kept me and you from being saved.

I’m so glad to see this. First, because it lets me know I’m not alone. Satan tempts me all the time. Sometimes I begin to think I’m the only one going through this pressure. But even Jesus went through it. Second, it lets me know how to defeat the temptation. Just rely on God, His Word, and His way. God’s way always works. Third, I’m glad to read it because it helps me really identify Satan’s temptations. I often overlook temptation and sin with a dismissive, “Oh, surely God wouldn’t have a problem with that.” What I need to look for is when my choices include God’s way and the easier softer way. Satan often promises me the very same thing God does. He simply says I don’t have pick up my cross to get the promise. I need to be able to say, “Not today, Satan. I’m going God’s way. It may be harder, but it works.”

Which way are you going today? God’s way or the easier softer way?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading? Add your input by clicking the following link: Post a Comment.

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*Today’s illustration was generated by the creative tool at Wordle.net. You can find all my wordles here.

Today’s reading is Revelation 17:1-18:24.

Two things struck me in today’s reading. First, there is the whore of Babylon. In Revelation 17:3, John was carried away in the Spirit and “I saw a woman…” I can’t help but remember the last woman he saw in Revelation 12:1, “And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun…” The first woman was attacked by a dragon. The second woman sat on a beast. The first woman was pregnant and giving birth. The second woman was sexually immoral. I can’t help but notice how Satan’s side tries to copy and mirror God’s work.

Then again, I noticed the beast described as “it was and is not and is to come” (Revelation 17:8). Who does that remind you of? Alive, dead, and alive again? What a mockery. Of course, the difference is Jesus arose never to die again. The beast arose to go into destruction. Again, I can’t help but notice how Satan strives to copy and mirror God’s work.

Therein lies the warning. Satan doesn’t offer something completely different from God. In fact, it will often look very much like what God offers. The devil, as they say, is in the details. Those few differences that Satan offers lead to destruction. Satan will offer mediocre copies of God’s great blessings, but Satan’s copies will not provide God’s blessings. Satan’s copies lead to destruction. Just ask the whore of Babylon and the beast on which she rode. Neither of them got the great life they had been expecting.

Take care. Follow God’s truth, not Satan’s lies.

***Question: What do you do to stay in God’s truth and not be diverted by Satan’s lies?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Perhaps it is providential I’m reading these chapters today. On an intellectual level, I have no doubts about God or His power. Sometimes on an emotional gut level, I have all kinds. As I struggle daily to be holy and overcome temptation and sin, I sometimes wonder where God is in my life. That especially happens if I slip and fall. I can even have times of despair wondering if God will ever lift me up out of this mire and get me over all these sins like He has promised.

I John 4:4 is like a beacon to me this morning: “…for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (ESV). Satan is attacking. He is actively trying to get me to fall. But Jesus, who is in me and in whom I abide, is greater. That doesn’t mean I’ll never ever mess up. It simply means Jesus is working His plan to conform me to His image. As Romans 8:28-30 says, God is working everything in my life together for my ultimate good and I will become conformed to the image of His Son. 

Satan cannot possibly when this war unless I give up on Jesus. As long as I’m hanging on the Jesus as my Lord, surrendering my life to Him, He will overcome through me in the end. 

What a comfort.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

We all know the parable of the Sower (Mark 4:3-9). He spread his seed everywhere and it fell on different kinds of soil. Granted, the point of this parable is from the perspective of the sower. We need to sow everywhere if we want any of it to fall on good ground. However, this passage helps me see the plans Satan has for us.

Plan A: Satan wants you to STAY OUT

The packed down path with its accompanying birds represents the heart the gospel does not penetrate. Satan doesn’t mind so much that we hear the word, as long as we don’t listen to it and allow it to sink in. I can’t help but think about Ezekiel 33:30-32:

As for you son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say but they will not do it (ESV).

Satan will do what he can to keep you from accepting God’s word so you will stay out of covenant relationship with God and avoid the eternal salvation God is offering.

Plan B: Satan wants you to DROP OUT

To Satan’s chagrin, he can’t seem to steal the Word out of everyone’s heart before they believe it, accept it and act on it. He does not, however, accept defeat easily. He has a back-up plan. He capitalizes on the rocks in our heart. That is, he makes use of anything that will keep the soil of our heart from being well-suited to grow the plant. He lulls us into a sense of safety, letting us believe we do not have to work very much to be safe in the arms of Jesus. He lets us believe we have had our moment of salvation and now everything is good. 

Because of that, we do not grow in Christ. The roots of our faith do not dig deep and gain purchase that can withstand the attacks that will inevitably come. Because our faith is shallow, the moment Satan brings an attack, like the blistering heat of the sun, we are scorched and wither away. We drop out. We head back to our old ways. I can’t help but think of the Israelites, freed from Egyptian bondage. The first sign of trouble and they cried out

Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’” (Exodus 14:11-12, ESV).

Their faith in God was shallow. Even after God’s ten plagues, they simply did not believe God would really deliver them. They were ready to turn back to Egypt.

Plan C: Satan wants you to FIZZLE OUT

Once again, to Satan’s chagrin, his repeated attacks don’t always work. Some folks believe and hang in there even in the midst of real trials and full frontal assault. Satan, however, is not done yet. He has one more plan up his sleeve. If he can’t keep us out and can’t make us drop out quickly, he will make us fizzle out. To be honest, I think this is his main plan in our time. Instead of directly attacking, he allows that sense of safety to continue to grow. Then he allows little things to creep in like weeds and thorns to choke us out. He brings in the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of riches. He lets us get so worried about paying for our kids college or planning for our retirement. He lets us get so focused on our own personal pursuits that we forget to focus on God’s will.

This makes me think of the restored Israelites following the Babylonian captivity. They immediately returned to Jerusalem and got to work. They rebuilt the altar and restored the sacrifices. They reinitiated the feasts of the Lord. They laid the foundation of the temple. But then they got sidetracked. God explained what was going on in Haggai 1:2, 4, 9:

Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord…Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?…You looked for much, and behold, it came to little, And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declared the Lord of host. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house (ESV).

Satan is actually happy for us to think we are still in the safe arms of Jesus so long as we aren’t bearing any fruit. If he can get us more focused on earthly things but still think we are being spiritual, then he has accomplished his greatest coup.

God has plans for you too!

The final soil represents what God wants for you. In this final illustration, God explains that He wants you to COME IN, STAY IN, GROW UP and BEAR FRUIT. Whether you bear as much as someone else, doesn’t matter. What matters is that you find salvation in Jesus and let Him build you up and grow you into the fruit bearing child of God He planned for you to be.

As II Peter 1:5-11 says:

for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (ESV).

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC