SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/7/2020 10:44 AM
My Worship Time Focus: 1st Temptation “Serving Self”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 4:3-4
Message of the verse: “3 And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." 4 But He answered and said, "It is written, ’MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.’’”
We begin with an important quote from John MacArthur’s commentary on Ephesians: “To try to circumvent or modify God’s revealed will not only is unfaithful and fleshly but is based on the false assumption that our physical well-being is our most crucial need, without which we cannot exist. Jesus contradicts that assumption, which is so natural to fallen man. ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ‘It is not food,’ Jesus says, ‘that is the most necessary part of life. The creative, energizing and sustaining power of God is the only real source of man’s existence.’”
As believers we have the truth about living life on this earth because we read the handbook which tells us the most important things that pertain to life on this earth including what death is all about. A couple of weeks ago a very famous basketball star who was 41 years of age died along with eight other people including his daughter and other young people. My daughter and her husband along with their four children were watching a tribute to this player while his former team was playing a game. The tribute must have been at halftime but I did not watch it. She told me that after the tribute to this player that she was explaining to her children ages almost 6 to thirteen that these people, although on a helicopter, were just going to practice when their helicopter crashed and killed them all. She said we could be going to a basketball or soccer game and this could happen to us too. After hearing what my daughter was telling them they heard a number of sirens coming bay their house as a person in a car was going so fast near the end of their road that he did not stop at a stop sign and jumped a ditch. I am not sure what his injuries were but he was taken to the hospital. Their family had a visual illustration of not knowing how long a person will live. James speaks of this in James 4:14-15 “14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. 15 Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’” Knowing this the central motive of our lives should be to please God and to trust Him to supply everything we need, and to follow without reservation Jesus’ commandment which is seen in Matthew 6:33 “"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” This is what Jesus was doing and what we as believers also should be doing. Jesus would wait until after these three temptations were over and then He would receive food and water to sustain Him.
John MacArthur writes in conclusion to this first sub-point “We can never please God, or even serve our own best interests, by complaining about and demanding what we do not have, or by violating or ignoring His will in order to get something we want. If we persist in disobeying God He may severely discipline us, or even take us off the scene, as John warns in his first letter (1 John 5:16). Ananias and Sapphira lost their lives because they lied to the Holy Spirit by telling the apostles they had received less than they actually did from the sale of some property (Acts 5:1-11). Certain members of the Corinthian church became weak and sick, and several even died, because they profaned the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:27-30).
“Even when our disobedience does not reach such extremes, we always suffer when we willfully bypass God’s Word. Following our Lord’s example in the wilderness, no matter how urgent and important a need seems to be, we are to wait for our heavenly Father’s provision, knowing that expedience and self-effort cannot bring good for ourselves, and certainly not glory to God.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I suppose that one of the most difficult things that I do is to wait on God. When I do wait on God for something that I desire there are many times as I wait that I figure out with the Lord’s counsel that I don’t really want it after all. I suppose that cars are the best example of this.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Waiting on the Lord is something I desire to do better. Having humility and also joy while reading His Word is something else I desire to do.
2/7/2020 11:18 AM
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