A Little Tempting

TITLE: A Little Tempting
DATE: April 9, 2019
TEXT: Luke 4:1-2, 13 – ESV -  And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. … And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Life is filled with choices. Some are easy, some are hard.

About 15-years ago a father wrote me about how his daughter taught him about easy decisions.

On his way home from work he stopped at the farm of a friend. There he picked up two buckets of cow manure.  Arriving home, in the suburbs Dad took the buckets out of the plastic bags he had used to contain spillage and smellage.

His four-year-old daughter was intrigued by the sight of her father carrying those buckets with one of his  work suits on. She approached closer and got her first whiff of the bucket’s contents.

She asked the understandable question: “Daddy, what’s that stuff for?”

Dad gave the honest reply, “It's for our strawberries."
That stopped the four-year-old in her tracks. She inspected her father's face to see if there was any possibility he was joking. Seeing no indication of any kind of teasing or horseplay in her father’s face, the young girl went and looked for another solution.
So as not to sound disrespectful or unappreciative, in her very best and politest voice she asked,
“Can I have my strawberries with Cool Whip instead?"
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As I said, some decisions are easier than others.

It was not so easy when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.

To say, ‘Yes”, to Satan's offer would make Him ruler of the entire world. On the other hand, to say, “No” to the invitation would take him to the nails and cross of Jerusalem. Now for most of us, the decision would be easy. We'd pick the world.
But Jesus is not one of us.

He is God's perfect Son and upon His daily decisions rested out forgiveness and salvation. Being about the Father’s business Jesus willingly gave up His life so that we might live eternally. Jesus made the right choice for us-but it was incredibly costly for Him.
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Over the years I have seen other Christians make some hard choices as they followed the Savior.

1. There was the Senior in high school who gave up some friends, but kept her Savior.
2. There was the Senior citizens who gave more than they were able to missions.
3. There was the childless couple who worked with the youth and became second parents to twenty-five years of young people.

When I’ve talked to them and others about what I thought was a difficult choice they had made, they all have replied, “There was no difficulty,  Pastor. There are hard decisions and there are easy ones. Following Jesus is one of the easy ones.”

THE PRAYER -  Dear Lord Jesus, You decided to save me. For Your decision and the witness of others who have followed You, I give thanks. Send Your Spirit to help me make right decisions.  In your Name I pray. Amen.

The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html