By David ReayWednesday 18 Mar 2015LifeWords DevotionalsFaithReading Time: 0 minutes
Transcript:
Read Luke 4:1-4
1 Then Jesus,full of the Holy Spirit,returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry.
3 Then the devil said to him,”If you are the Son of God,tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
4 But Jesus told him,”No! The Scriptures say,’People do not live by bread alone.” (NLT)
In Greek mythology there is the story of Achilles. When an infant,his mother dipped him in a stream which was meant to have magical powers. The water of that stream gave him protection from death in battle. Little wonder he became a mighty warrior. Till one day he was killed by an arrow shot into his heel. His heel was unprotected because his mother held him by the heel as she immersed him in the water. Hence we refer to someone’s ‘Achilles heel’ as their weak or vulnerable spot.
The evil one knows all about such spots. Note how he tempted Jesus. He didn’t tell him to do anything wicked. Rather he suggested he do something quite appropriate to his circumstances-satisfy his hunger. Jesus refused because he saw the more subtle agenda. Satan wanted him to become a materialistic,’feed the masses’ sort of Messiah.
Rarely are we tempted to do something obviously bad. We are usually tempted more subtly. As in the Garden of Eden. “Is that really so wrong?”,”Has God got your best interests at heart?”,”Don’t let God boss you around!”
Satan realises a frontal attack might not work with those who are somehow seeking to follow Jesus. He probes for the weak spots,the Achilles heel. So we need to get to know what they are in our individual lives. Awareness guards against ambush.
Blessings
David Reay