(no subject)
Yeah. We know suffering.
Wrestling, arguing, crying, can’t eat, hate, confused, can’t sleep. Hate it! Hate it! Hate it!
We know suffering.
We know temptation.
he himself suffered when he was tempted
Why does it seem so easy for Him when I read it?
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil…The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on the every word that comes from the mouth of God.”…
“If you are the Son of God,…throw yourself down…”
Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
“All this I will give you….if you will bow down and worship me.”
Jesus said to him, “Away from me Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
Matthew 4:1-10
Why does that seem so easy for Him when I read it?
I mean, okay, let’s be real, when we’re tempted ~ when we hear either the lies in our head or the call of stuff that’s so much more fun than abstinence (and I’m not just talkin’ sex) and so much easier to do ~ why do WE struggle so much and wrestle in so much torment when it was so easy for Jesus?
Oh yeah, it’s because He’s Jesus.
Eyes wide open: That’s wrong.
Son of God, son of man. Fully both.
You’ve heard the church babble “He suffered every temptation we have.”
Yeah, so yeah, He was submitted to and presented with choices and temptations, but He always knew the answers. It was easy for Him. Satan says, “Do this…take this…enjoy this” and Jesus just says “Nope. No thanks” just like that. Immediately.
Wrong.
Read the church babble:
…we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are…Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity…he himself suffered when he was tempted. (Heb 4:15,2:14,18)
Whoa!! Read that again…he himself suffered when he was tempted
I just zoom through the Matthew temptations and as fast as I read them, I assume Jesus responded as quickly.
But the word says “he himself suffered when he was tempted.”
Suffered.
Not “He was tempted and overcame.”
Not “He was given an attractive choice but never got distracted by the road signs.”
Not “He was tempted
Suffered.
I don’t know about you, but I know about suffering.
I know about crying out against the temptations.
I know about wrestling with “I really WANT to” but knowing I can’t, yet…yet…sometimes…maybe just once…maybe just a little…hey, maybe I can make it useful for a God lesson!”
It may not be physical. It may just be an anger thing. It may be ~ whoa, it may just be to join into a conversation that my head is already in, I’ve just been holding my tongue because that whole Ephesians 4:29 thing restrains me. Yeah, but sometimes, chewing through the restraints just a little would…No, I’ve got to fight it.
Sometimes I don’t win.
I know what it’s like to want to belong.
I know what it’s like to want to move onto a more agreeable and easy life. Free of all the bad stuff. Free of all the hard stuff.
I know what it’s like, yeah, I know what it’s like to suffer under temptation. It’s suffering alright.
It hurts. It’s a fight. It’s not only heart and mind, but it’s physical. Man, sometimes it’s like ripping my skin off to get me away from it. Sometimes the draw is sooooo strong!
Yeah, you know what I’m talkin’ about. You know what suffering under temptation is!
Give up. Give in. Time’s been paid, time to play. Just a little. It’ll never happen. Just once. I can’t. Be strong. Word is truth. Hold it. I don’t believe it. Hold it. I don’t feel it. Stand on it. It’s shaky to me. I can’t. He says I can. I can’t. He can ~ but not through me. I’m not. He is. Not in me He isn’t. I’m going to. I know the consequences. I can’t suffer anymore. I’ll pay the price. I shouldn’t. But I can. I can’t. I shouldn’t. I WANT to. I can’t. It’s hard.
Yeah. We know suffering.
Wrestling, arguing, crying, can’t eat, hate, confused, can’t sleep. Hate it! Hate it! Hate it!
We know suffering.
We know temptation.
he himself suffered when he was tempted
Jesus’ response in Matthew’s telling of the temptations wasn’t immediate - I don’t believe. It doesn’t match with Scripture to assume it was immediate. He suffered when he was tempted. He was flesh and blood. Same flesh that can have ego like our flesh (and whoa what an ego He’d be justified in having, huh?!) Same blood that rushes to His heart and His head when He’s angry. Think He was never tempted by women? Doesn’t match with Scripture to say He wasn’t. How do you think He came up with “anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” He knew the temptation and had learned to turn from it ~ and at which point to turn from it. Not after standing there for 10 minutes…10 seconds. He suffered…He knew what it was like to keep the flesh in holiness because His flesh experienced the temptation of unholiness. (With that, I’d like to think He did respond instantaneously. He was without sin - Scripture matches up to say He did react instantaneously in that temptation.)
Jesus suffered when tempted.
As we suffer.
So that He can sympathize.
So that He can intercede.
So that He can give us the exact Scripture we need to “truth us through it.”
His lesson, His “how to” is in Matthew 4: Tempted, suffering, wrestling, wanting, He checked Scripture to see if it would be okay. Suffering through it, He stood on the Scripture. “If God doesn’t say it’s okay, it’s not okay.”
Talking to a group of girls ~ have your received permission from your heavenly husband to allow a guy to touch you that way yet?
Talking to a group of guys ~ have you gotten permission? Have you gotten permission to be touched?
Suffering?
Yeah, Jesus knew. It may not have been the suffering of wanting that stereo system, of wanting to skip or drop out of school, cheat on a test, get back at that person who SO wronged you (wait, maybe He did wrestle through that…with all of the people chasing Him down, with all the power and authority He had…yeah, maybe He did wrestle and suffer though that.) It may not be your exact struggle today, but if you suffer, if you wrestle, yeah, you’d better believe He understands.
It seemed so easy for Jesus to respond and that made it unreal to me.
”Yeah, He’s Jesus, I’m not. It was easy for Him. If I was God in flesh I’d be able to too.”
Not true.
Fully God, yes. Fully human with the same emotions, hormones, flesh, stomach, feet, and surroundings as us? Yes
It was easy for Jesus?
Scripture doesn’t say so.
He suffered.
But - BUT - He knew the price. He knew the investment. He knew the significance of the eternal. (Yeah, of course He did - He used to live there, He’s Jesus! You know that same truth of eternal. You were touched and created by the same hand that created Him. You, believer, are in that same eternal. No excuses.) He knew the suffering was worth it. He knew the truth was stronger and that God’s word - the word spoken from His mouth - was the only truth and the only way.
I am the truth and the way
The Word of God was with in the beginning
He was with God
He is the truth and the way
He demonstrated the truth and the way
The way to respond.
He knows. He knew. He suffered. He responded. He demonstrated.
He was flesh, He wasn’t “just Jesus.”
Somehow, it all now seems possible to me. Knowing it wasn’t just a no-brainer for Jesus. Knowing even He weighed all the choices, had desires, and fought to deny himself. No more excuses for me.