Notes From The Margins: Temptations
Every blog post in my “Notes from the Margins” series is an ongoing attempt to process the truth I’m finding in the Bible as I go. You’re welcome to join me by dialoguing, asking questions, or doing your own “Notes from the Margins” post on your blog. There are a few rules that you can read here.
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.'” 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 4:1-8).
One of the things that I love about Jesus being a man is that He was tempted in every way just like we were. That means that there isn’t any temptation you face that Jesus didn’t have to face in some way. Not all of those ways are recorded, but I guarantee he faced everything you faced and more. He was tempted to the extreme. That’s why reading the account of where he was actually tempted can be so helpful as we look to Jesus as our example of how to overcome temptations.
Today as part of my reading for our 2&3, I came across the account of Jesus’ temptation in Luke 4 again. Here’s what struck me as I read it this morning: Satan was offering something to Jesus that was already promised to Him (Psalm 2:7-8). He wasn’t just offering to make Jesus the idol of all humanity. Satan was actually offering Jesus the destiny God had promised Jesus without having to go through the cross. It was destiny minus the pain.
But that got me thinking about how often we fall for the same temptations. We want to be like King David but we don’t want to be chased through the wilderness by the leader God has removed his hand from. We want the ministry of Paul minus the misunderstandings by people we love, even fellow believers. We want to walk by faith without attempting and failing like Peter did when he stepped out of the boat. We want the promise without the pain. And very frequently we forget that the pain and the suffering are the very things that God uses to prepare us for His promise in the first place.
Satan was looking for worship. Whenever we take short cuts to step into God’s promises with following God’s ways, I think we enter into a measure of worshiping Satan. But to choose the hard path that God is leading us through, all the while believing that God will still deliver on His promise? That’s true worship of the Father. It’s something we’re supposed to give only to Him. Maybe you aren’t being offered a chance to become God of all the nations today, but are you taking a short cut to something God promised in way He hasn’t provided? Today, I’m going to choose the way of God that honors Him, no matter what it costs me.
That’s today’s “Note from the Margin.” Feel free to comment, discuss, and dialogue in the comments section.
Photo Credit: April 25 Notes by Iowa_Spirit_Walker
On Sonship (Part V)
The last few weeks we’ve been discussing the implications of sonship on our walk with Christ. If you’re interested, you can check out the previous posts in the series here:
On Sonship (Part I)
On Sonship (Part II)
On Sonship (Part III)
On Sonship (Part IV)
God fathers us Himself.
God has always been a father. He was the father of our Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world (Colossians 1:2-3, John 17:24), He was a father to Israel (Hosea 11:1), and He has been a father to the church of every generation. God has designed the world so that even though children are born without fathers (or born with terrible fathers), He will be a father to the fatherless. Psalms 68:5-6 describes how God protects the orphan and sets the lonely in families. This is something God does because He is a father.
We see this play out specifically when a man or a woman turns from their sin and accepts Christ as the leader of his or her life. At that point God gives us “the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father!” (Romans 8:15). This radical adoption breaks off every form of fear and abandonment and it is God’s answer to the harsh reality that not everyone has a good dad to call their own.
This Spirit of adoption is not just a warm, fuzzy love feeling, it’s much more practical than that. I know of one brother who really had very little fathering growing up. When he became a believer, he found himself totally unable to do simple things that a father usually teaches a son. His testimony is he held on to the promise that the Lord would be a father to him and God literally fathered him into adulthood. God would actually speak to him things a father would teach his son. But even if you’ve grown up knowing how to function in life, a father gives more than just instructions. His fathering presence frees us from the fear and insecurity that plagues mankind and stops us from every really achieving anything significant. Do not minimize the impact of being fathered by the One who created the role Himself.
When we come to know Christ, we gain access to God as our father. But like we started this series off saying, many people come to know Christ but never transition out of the orphan mindset. There are several major reasons for this, but one main reason is we were designed to relate to beings with skin. God hasn’t left us alone in that arena. He’s even prepared for that. We’ll look at that next time…
Photo Credit: Father and Daughter by apdk
Two Questions That End Confusion
This past weekend I journeyed out to the Midwest Prayer Center to attend a worship gathering that was
led by Rick Pino. After the time of worship they had a speaker named Rex Crain who I had never heard
before this weekend. He had a tremendous ability to provoke people into their callings (and do a very
corporate version of what I’ve been talking about in my “On Sonship” series).
I found something he did really simple and helpful for clarifying identity and helping people move
forward in their calling. He gave everyone two sentences to fill in the blanks for themselves. Once
you answer these two questions, a lot of other questions become much easier. I’m going to post both
sentences, but here’s the challenge: Answer them in the comment section. You’ll be helped by having
written down a clarifying statement on identity and purpose and I would love to know who is reading
and where the people who are reading are going. Here are the two questions:
My name is __________________.
My life is about ____________________________________________________________________.
Now, some of you may not know the answer to the question, and that’s okay. This is an exercise
designed to cause you to go back to the Father and get the answers. Obviously the first answer is just
your name. The second answer has an infinite number of possibilities.
Here’s mine: My name is Travis. My life is about recovering the essence of apostolic Christianity in my
generation. (I’ll clarify that statement at some point in the future, but it will probably look something
like this.)
Okay, now it’s your turn. Go to the comment section and leave the answer to your two questions. I’m
excited to see the answers.
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 