After Jesus
was baptized he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where
he was tempted by the devil for 40 days. His second temptation was that Satan offered
to give him the kingdoms of this world in an exchange for a moment of worship.
And the devil said to Him, “All this
authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore,
if You will worship before me, all will
be Yours.” Luke 4:6-7
Because
of man's sin, Satan has become the ruler of this world. Satan was offering Jesus the kingdoms of this world without having to go to
the cross. God’s plan for Jesus was for
Him to suffer first and then enter His glory. Satan offered him a way out of
the suffering.
And Jesus answered and
said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall
serve.’" Luke 4:8
When I hear this verse it reminds me of the times that I have wanted
to take the easy way out. I’ve want to take a shortcut to righteousness and
skip the suffering. I didn’t want to go through the fiery trials of this life, but
that is not God’s plan. Jesus said, in
this world you will have troubles but don’t let them discourage you, don’t let
them derail you and don’t let them take away your peace (John 16:33). Instead rejoice because these trials are
producing something wonderful. When we go
through a trial and choose to worship and serve God alone then our trials produces
Christlikeness in us which helps us to become a
more mature, well-rounded Christians who lacks nothing (James 1:2-5).
There is no shortcut around suffering.
Satan might tempt you to believe there is an easy way out but don’t buy
into his lies. Instead, keep your eyes
on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith, and worship and serve Him
only and He will bring you through the trial and you will be stronger in your
faith for it.
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