When you are tempted, what do you learn about yourself?
When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he settled the trajectory of his life and confirmed his mission. His single-focus mission was to be the bridge to bring people to His Father. False accusations didn’t distract him. Debate didn’t unnerve him.
Misunderstanding and betrayal from his closest friends didn’t make him question. What happened in the wilderness so strengthened the way he embraced his mission, nothing made him lose focus.
Wilderness, for me, doesn’t happen in the desert. My wilderness threatens when I give doubts a higher standing than the faithfulness of God.
The dark questions I hear are these: Why is everything stacked against me? Am I sure this is what I'm supposed to do? What if I'm wrong? How can I know for sure?
I know they are the wrong questions because they come from pushy voices I have in my head. I had to learn that those voices never belonged to God. However, silencing them in the wilderness when there is nothing good to replace them with is an excruciating process I often fail at.
Rather than returning to my questions, I need to remember how Jesus responded to temptation. His responses didn’t give him bread; they gave him strength. His responses didn’t give him power; they gave him restraint. His responses didn’t give him a detailed itinerary; they gave him his Father’s presence.
And that is when he feasted. And when he feasted, he was no longer tempted.
True isn’t it? When we are aware that God's resources are enough, we feast there, too. We discover a new-formed root to faith, Our heart turns to the adventure that waits without a doubt that God will bring it to pass.
The purpose of temptation is not to undo us. The purpose is to help us realize how our best ideas can never fill our poverty. God always meets our needs better than we could meet them. If we take that truth to the cross, we will enjoy a feast we didn’t prepare.
And we will hunger for His need-meeting ways so much more. It is another gift of the journey to the cross.
What does temptation teach you?
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