Lent DAY 6: what will you give me in exchange?
Mar 11 in Lent
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Offering Him the world without the cost of the cross. To ‘save the world’, tempting because it gave Jesus the platform He needed to be able to bring so much good at a quicker pace, if He came as a powerful King He would be easily recognized by His own people as the much awaited Messiah … amazing to think that Satan has the power to move kingdoms and nations in a certain direction; we see how Satan longs to be worshipped, to exalt his throne above the stars of God to be like the most High. Isaiah 14:12-14
The devil reminds me of Rumpelstiltskin, he will entice and grant a desire but always comes at a price, you have inadvertently granted him wide open access, an open door and he can come and claim payment at any time .
So, what do I learn from His time in the wilderness? I learn that as a Christian there is an opposing side and that I need to know God’s Word if I am to succeed against the enemy’s lies and enticements. His truth is my greatest weapon. I find that the Bible is full of people who made mistakes whose stories are recorded so that I may learn from them; that the pleasures of sin are called like that for a reason, they will always look good, yet there is a cost that I cannot ignore, and that what can sometimes look like freedom can in fact enslave you to a habit that is hard to get rid of. I learn that it is through climbing the hardest ravines in life that I learn the most valuable lessons and that these are necessary to equip and perfect me knocking off all the rough edges. Fire of testing builds endurance, strength of character, purifies and burns up all the rubbish I pick up in life. I learn that I don’t need to cater to every whim and that there are simple things in life that unless I stop to watch and listen I can easily miss. That life is not about me and that pride is hard to beat.
I am pleased I started this journey. I learn that there is a God that cares about every detail concerning me, He made a way to the Father, walked a different way, has paid the cost that I may have a relationship with Him for He longs to speak to me, know Him as He knows me… I want to dig deeper…