By: Rev. Gerry Weesner, Maples United Methodist Church \u2018Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him\u2026 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. \u2018All this I will give you,\u2019 he said, \u2018if you will bow down and worship me.\u2019 Jesus said to him, \u2018Away from me, Satan! For it is written: \u2018Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.\u2019 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.\u201d Matthew 4:1-3a, 8-11 (NIV). In this scripture temptation isn\u2019t everywhere it happens in a special place called \u201cthe wilderness,\u201d the place where God is not, and it is the property of the \u201cdevil\u201d: the one who has set himself utterly against God and God\u2019s will. In Matthew\u2019s treatment of this \u201cTemptation of Jesus in the Wilderness,\u201d Jesus is led by the Spirit into the place where God is not, to be tempted by the one who has set himself utterly against God and God\u2019s will. Jesus represents us, or what we would be, were we perfectly at one with God. This story is ultimately about us. This story tells us what temptation is, and who we are in relation to it, how it comes to us, and where, and why. This story tells us first and foremost that to live fully in and with and of God, to be carried utterly by God\u2019s will as Jesus was, does not amount to being completely free of temptation. If you feel that you\u2019ve been led to temptation it isn\u2019t the devil trying to make you do something. It is the Spirit that has permitted you to be there. God is not tempting you. Jesus is not tempting you. Jesus is with you, right by your side, when you are struggling against temptation; Jesus has shown us how to fight it. The Spirit is not tempting you; what the Spirit is doing is grabbing hold of a lapel or an earlobe or whatever else might be handy and saying, Look! Here is something you need to confront! Here is something that\u2019s competing in your heart with the sovereignty of God! Have we been tempted? Actually, who among us has not been? Have we succumbed to temptation? Who among us can say, \u201cI have not!\u201d? Can we truthfully say, \u201cThe devil made me do it?\u201d If we are truly serious about offering Jesus to the world, we, all of us, must do this: Turn! Repent! Return! Return, to the true religion, the religion of Christ, the religion of unconditional love, the religion of grace and mercy. Let us return to offering the peace of Christ, which is the offering of God\u2019s love and salvation to all, far and near, inside and outside of the church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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