The Temptation of Jesus
1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led around by the Spirit in the wilderness
2for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry.
3And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
4And Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.'"
5And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6And the devil said to Him, "I will give You all this domain and its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
7"Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours."
8Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"
9And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here;
10for it is written,
'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU TO GUARD YOU,'
11and,
'ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP,
SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'"
12And Jesus answered and said to him, "It is said, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'"
13When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.
You just never know when God is going to take you way way out of your comfort zone to stretch and grow you. A friend of my husband invited us to attend a Chief's game on Sunday (yesterday). Not only am I not a fan, but I can even imagine the life of a fan. As it turned out these lovely people who invited us to the game are most enthusiastic about their Chief's games. We drove to their house at 8am so we could load up into their Chief mobile and arrive 3 hours before the game start time in order to tailgate. It is a pre-game ritual I had heard about, but never actually knew anyone who did it.
The couple who took us really were some of the nicest people I have met, so why did they want us to stand out in 30 degree weather talking with other Chief's fans for those 3 miserable hours before we actually went into the stadium and sat for several more miserable hours to watch the Chiefs get creamed by the Denver Broncos. To my credit, I did graciously make it through the first half of the game actually sitting in my seat and paying attention to the game. At that point, I was so cold and miserable that I had to retreat to the inside where I watched the game off and on through a glass window. I took a lap around the stadium in an effort to get my blood moving again, to no avail.
After arriving home around 4pm, I put on my warmest PJs, piled on the blankets and fell asleep in front of the TV with the wood stove pumping out heat about as fast as it could. Meanwhile, through it all, I not only did not have peace, but I even tried to come up with ways to get back at these kind folks who went out of their way to share this experience with us. Then, this morning, I read about how Jesus went through His temptation. His focus was God and His Word. Except for my morning devotions yesterday, my focus was me and my discomfort. Where was God? He was right there with me waiting for me to turn to Him for comfort, wisdom and compassion. My miserable day could have been radically different had I chosen to fix my eyes on Jesus.
The Christmas season tends to stretch us out of our comfort zones as we run around trying to make everything just right. I thank God for yesterday and the lessons of today, that by His grace, I can choose to go through it all with the right focus, one that results in peace and joy instead of misery and grouching.