A young man was in a dilemma and he thought he had a solution. I put it to him that he was standing before temptation and that the devil was tempting him to make the wrong choice. I praise the Lord that he made the right choice. It wasn’t an easy choice for him because being in trouble isn’t nice or easy. Each one of us stands before temptation every day and have choices to make. There are more temptations and choices than we can even imagine.
Of course Jesus was tempted even before He began his ministry on earth. After He was baptized the spirit led Him into the wilderness where He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. The Bible says hes as hungry. I can’t even start to imagine how hungry He was.
Matthew 4:3 – 11, “now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” But He answered and said, “It is written , ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: ‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’ Jesus said to him, ‘It is written again, You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ Again the devil took him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.”
Here Jesus gives us the perfect example of what we are supposed to do when we are tempted. We have to remember the promises in the Word, and ideally we should know them off by heart and have them at hand and in the front of our memories when the time comes. But do we? Do we even realize before it’s too late that what came before us was temptation. Do we just see is as a situation that we had to handle and get out of the way? Do we debate whether Jesus had it easier than we do because after all He was God?
Hebrews 4:15, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Jesus went through everything He endured as 100% human. While He was on earth He did not receive any favoritism from God. He didn’t feel or experience things differently than we do.
James 1:12 – , “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, not does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”
We must never get into the position where, when we make one mistake, we have to do something to cover it up. If we fall to temptation, we have to own up and fix the situation in the correct way, even if it is difficult. We have to overcome out fear of man, and remember that is it way more important to please God than to please man. Always. Don’t let one small mistake grow into a huge catastrophe. Do the right thing by doing what Jesus did.
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