Chapter 4

"The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

This took place once Jesus was baptized. If you remember,  after Jesus got baptized, the spirit of God rested on him in the form of a dove, and a voice from heaven came down saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:16-17. It is interesting that immediately God Himself has ascertained the identity of Jesus, the first question the devil asks is, "If you are the Son of God". The predictable human reaction to this question would be, "I'll show you who I really am". More true today than ever. The devil is crafty and subtle; he knows that by putting doubt about one’s identity, everything that follows would be a landslide towards his agenda. Jesus shows us how to act in these situations. He says, my life does not come from fulfilling your requests but by every word that comes from God. 

We have been given a "blueprint," if you will, a guide on overcoming temptation in life, and all this comes from knowing where our life flows from, where our identity is. Our identity is not in the social class we are in, not in the politicians we support, not in the promotion we got, and not in the "satisfaction" of fulfilling all requests. Our identity comes from God, our life depends on Him.

Our prayer today is that God may reveal who to us who we are in you, give us the awareness and strength to be vigil even in times of subtle temptation. We pray that even as the war is raging that our focus will be on Jesus, the one we live through , in Jesus name, Amen.

"Let us not enter into the temptation of trying to prove our calling to all"