Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Luke 4 before reading the devotional below.
I typed the word “temptation” into BibleGateway.com once. Try it. Not sure about you, but I was really surprised to see that temptation is something the Bible says we will all face. Maybe that’s not such a shocking thought to you, but growing up as a Christian somewhere along the way I internalized the idea that being tempted is basically already well on your way to sinning. You failed because you even had the tempting thought cross your mind. But that’s not what the Bible says.
When you read all the verses about temptation in a row, you realize that Satan is always at work in doing the tempting. It is an action on his part. If Jesus was tempted, yet didn’t sin, then obviously being tempted is not a sin. In our passage today, Jesus resisted Satan’s efforts and used Scripture to defeat him. But I don’t think it would be called a “temptation” if there wasn’t some emotional part of Jesus that kind of wanted it. Satan offered Jesus things he could actually have. His tricks told the truth — you can turn this stone into bread if you want to, you can have this earthly kingdom that belongs to me, you can jump off this cliff and have angels come save you immediately! All of these were totally options for Jesus. And wouldn’t that have been easier.
Here’s where Satan has figured out a way to gamble on you and double his money: tempt you and then blame you for being tempted. You feel guilty without even falling for his temptation! And he laughs all the way to the bank. Here’s your freedom for today: temptation happens to all of us. It’s not your fault, and you didn’t do anything wrong. If you were tempted but you didn’t give in, don’t let Satan fool you into feeling guilty anyway. Instead, notice what you did to follow God’s path in the midst of a lure in a different direction. Jesus is celebrating that victory, why shouldn’t you?