How did Jesus Do It?

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Good morning.

One of the things that keep us from experiencing the Lord’s fullness is sin. “Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear,” (Isaiah 59:1, 2).

The Lord wants me to create a picture of what Jesus went through in terms of temptation, so with utmost respect and reverence I obey.

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For 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—yet was without sin,” (Hebrews 4:14, 15).

Do you think that a man of popularity and power would appeal to women? The women in Jesus’ time would then have tried to get Jesus attention and appeal to His male desires, just as we men get women trying to catch our attention and women today certainly get attention from men. Certain women in Jesus’ crowds would therefore have tried to catch His attention in a sinful way, wouldn’t they? Jesus, being a man with the hormones all men have, would have received the little whisper in His ear: ‘Nice girl, isn’t she? How about...’

With all the power Jesus exercised and the resulting fame it brought, do you think Jesus would’ve been tempted with pride? ‘Look what I have accomplished!’

When He really got tired He would have been tempted to respond to His human nature’s desire to follow the easy way out and disobey Father God. How many times do you think Jesus could have got up in the morning, not really feeling like walking the forty miles to the next town, having hundreds of people demanding His attention? If only He could do for one day what His flesh desired – pleasing His own desires.

How about the temptation to defend Himself when He was accused and in the end arrested, not letting the Father fight on His behalf (Zechariah 4:6, Exodus 14:14), the temptation to boast when He was asked whether He was the Son of God, the temptation to rather have lived in a comfortable house of His own when He declared “foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head,” (Matthew 8:20)

These kinds of temptations would have hailed down on Him relentlessly, for Satan knew that if he could only get Jesus to sin once, Jesus would have had it.

Were you able to identify with these temptations?

Jesus, however, didn’t give the temptations a second thought. He was too busy serving His Father’s desires to allow time to harbour such thoughts. The devil finds work for idle hands, the idiom says, and Jesus knew it. That’s why He either served - through work or through fellowship with godly friends - or He prayed (Mark 1:35, Matthew 14:22).

Jesus was tempted just as we are, but He did not sin because His purpose, His love for His Father and obedience to His Father was much more important. Yes, Jesus did not have hereditary sin and we have, so we will never be sinless (1 John 1:8). But we are able to overcome temptation by the power of God (1 Corinthians 10:13) and by being as focused on Kingdom issues as Jesus were, and not on earthly desires (Colossians 3:1-3). Obedience reduces sin’s power.

Lord, if Jesus could have given His all, I can. Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

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