The First Temptation of Jesus Christ: Don't misuse God's gift to you

It is well known from the Scriptures what the first temptation of Jesus Christ is:

“After fasting forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry. 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 shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God’.”                                     

 ~ Matthew 4:2 – 4.       

Let me brief a bit, Jesus was in the desert for forty days. During the forty days, he ate nothing and fasted. At the end, he was hungry when the Devil tries to tempt him in his moment of human weakness. He asks Jesus to change stones into bread and satisfy his hunger.  Had it been us, I am sure that we wouldn’t have given a second thought about that and would have straightly proceeded to do so. But Jesus refuses because he would never use his God given power to satisfy his own needs. He tactfully quotes the scripture in reply to the tempter by saying that food does not sustain a man’s life. God’s word does. We live because God wills us to and not because we have been leading a healthy life with organic diet.

This temptation of Jesus is signifies the fact that he would not accomplish his mission by supernatural means. Of course, he healed the sick, drove out demons and performed many miracles, which sounds supernatural. But the ultimate mission of Jesus is to provide salvation and redeem the world from sin through death on the cross. And Jesus would not use supernatural power to accomplish that. He allowed men to flog, strip, beat and crucify him. Even when they taunted him, he did not use his powers to protect himself. Instead, he gave up his life as a normal man would, after hours of abuse.

The lesson we are to learn from the first temptation of Jesus is this: Do not use God given power for your own benefits. Even though Jesus was hungry, he did not misuse his power to change stones into bread. In the same way, as imitators of Christ, we must be sure not to misuse our God given powers and abilities for our selfish purposes.

Do you have the gift of healing? Use it freely, for freely we were given. Do you have the ability to capture audience with wonderful speeches? Don’t use it to spread useless talks around. Use your gifts to spread goodwill and cheer, not gossips and slander.

Speaking of gifts, I am sure that gifts don’t include only healing and miracles. Your sight, hearing, your limbs, your family, your friends and everything else you are happy with are gifts too. After all, not everyone one us is blessed with sight or speech. Not all of us have wonderful parents. Shouldn’t we take good care of them? Don’t misuse your sight to lust at something. Don’t misuse your gift of speech to slander people. Be grateful for that food on your table, for some of us don’t have that privilege to eat three times a day.

Therefore, it is vital for us to remember not to misuse any gift and capability God has given us. Because our life as a Christian would lose its meaning if we end up ignoring and misusing all our little and great blessings

~Lilac Blossom

P.s. If you liked this post, do let me know through your comments. Also, stay tuned for the upcoming post about the second and third temptation of Jesus Christ.