📖 Lent 1 Gospel Reading: Matthew 4:1-11
🤔 We tend to read about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness and think, “Wow, he must have really struggled like we do”?
🔄 But, we’re going to flip the script…
💪 This wasn’t actually a close battle where Jesus barely made it through.
✨ Think about it: Jesus is God in human form, completely sinless.
🐜 For him, facing the devil was like you facing an ant — it wasn’t even a contest!
⚡ The devil, who can certainly overwhelm you or me, didn’t stand a chance against the Creator of the universe.
❓ So why did Jesus go into the wilderness at all? He went there for you.
🏰 The wilderness represents all the places where we build our own kingdoms, where we try to survive on bread alone, where we’re tempted to worship things other than God.
🚶 After his baptism, Jesus deliberately sought out these places where we struggle.
⛔ You see, Jesus couldn’t lose to Satan — just like he couldn’t come down from the cross when people mocked him.
🌟 The point is that he chose to enter your wilderness, your places of temptation, to win the victory on your behalf.
🤺When you’re struggling with temptation, remember this: Jesus didn’t go to the wilderness to show you how to quote Scripture better or to demonstrate better willpower.
👑 He went there to conquer your idols for you, to resist the devil for you, to choose God’s way for you.
🏆 In every place where you’ve fallen to temptation, he’s already won the victory.
✝️ And then he took it even further – all the way to the cross, where he died to forgive your sins.
Contributor Rev. Harrison Goodman is the Higher Things Content Executive.
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