Setting the Standard

In Matthew 4 we read of how Jesus began his ministry by setting the standard to which we can all aspire. Immediately after being baptized, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert for the purpose of being tempted by the devil himself.

Now normally, I'm praying to God that he 'lead me not into temptation' but here we clearly see that sometimes God's will is that we be tempted. From this we can understand that temptation itself is a part of God's plan not just for Jesus but for us also. It was in the crucible of the desert that we learn a valuable lesson, from Jesus, as to how we are to respond to Satan and his schemes. The standard that Jesus set was to use the very words of God as a weapon to rebuke and rebuff Satan. In so doing, we see that the words of God are powerful and effective as our first response to temptation. And we learn too that Satan will withdraw from the battle. In this one short passage we learn two important lessons from Jesus' example.

The first is a willingness to be led by the Spirit. Jesus could have commanded the Spirit or simply exercised his own will to avoid the desert and its' attendant temptations. Instead Jesus was led as a willing participant. This sets the standard of how we are to yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our own lives.

The second is the ability to wield the sword of God's Word. I do not believe that Jesus was born knowing all the scriptures but rather that as a child he studied and committed to memory all the same teachings that all other Hebrew children were presented. In this he sets the standard for hiding God's word in his heart.

If we apply these two lessons to ourselves, if we follow the example of Jesus then our lives will be profoundly different.

Peace,
Carl