Lent DAY 5: He who has seen Me has seen the Father
Mar 11 in Lent
I thought I would look today at the second temptation of Jesus whilst in the desert, Satan tempting Him to demonstrate that He was indeed who He said He was “If you are the Son of God… throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you …” Matthew 4:6
“If you ARE the Son of God”- Recognition. Show me that you are who you say you are! Prove it! Tempting Him to put himself in unnecessary danger. Tempting Him to walk independently from God, to try God by testing Him, trying to control and manipulate God for His own whims and fancies, to enhance his own self-image, of How great I AM! Look at Me!
Jesus always pointed to the Father, He came to demonstrate the Father heart, He recognized that with power comes great responsibility. He did not come to promote His image. Isn’t it funny how many powerful leaders DO however fall for the temptation of exalting themselves in the eyes of others? Building great statues of themselves, having their face plastered on every corner. Even if God has placed you in a position of authority, He will not operate to your agenda, however well-intentioned, for we are too prone to let it go to our head and believe it was our great amazing talent behind it or use it to manipulate and control others. We can so easily be diverted from our original task to building an empire to self, that shouts, LOOK AT ME! We like to be liked even admired, it then becomes all about me, myself and I… Jesus had a royal commission and it was all about others. The cross points to God vertically to others horizontally .
He simplified life to two commandments, loving God with all your heart, mind and strength and loving others as yourself. It is so easy to love me!
Putting God to the test can also be the result of impatience, we want God to act NOW! Not willing to wait, but sometimes He is putting things in place as He sees the wider picture and is always working for a higher purpose than we are unable to even imagine and usually in a completely different way.This is where we learn to trust Him over and above what we see and wait for His perfect timing 🙂