Any Shortcut Will Do

March 28, 2022

Scripture
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. …. The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down from here. For it is written: ‘ “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”’ Jesus answered, ‘It is said: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”’ (Luke 4:1-2,9-12 NIVUK)

Any Shortcut Will Do

Silver dollars were a childhood treasure. I collected them when I could and one of my collection points was memorizing Bible verses and reciting to win a silver dollar. As much as my tribe looked down on churches that raised money with bake sales and other event, we were shameless cash rewarders for Bible activity – even bigger bucks were available for winning a sword drill. (If you don’t know what that is, ask your grandma.)

From the devil’s performance one would think he’d won a few silver dollars- he could quote Bible verses with the best of them. So apparently Bible bullets aren’t the road to healthy relationships – either with God, our own inner journey, or the world around us.

When Jesus hears the beautiful poetic words from Psalm 91, he knows it’s being twisted with destructive intent. He knows the Father and basically tells the Devil, “You’re nuts, God doesn’t play those kinds of games”. It’s good to know the character of the God expressed in poetry in order not to take things literally and make it into nonsense.

A sensational trick to get the crowds cheering was not the Divine plan or desire. All the Bible verses in the world don’t make evil good or vice versa. In this journey with Jesus’ testing, we see his character revealed and we are encouraged to stay close to him and get to know the Father the way he does.

A Prayer for Today

Loving God, you reveal yourself in the vulnerable Jesus, subjected to profound tests of character. Thank you he didn’t take short cuts, but embraced all the insecurity we feel in  dark moments and pointed the way to courageous obedience to the good. Let me listen carefully to what I hear from all sorts of sources and make sure it has the ring of Divine truth to which your son’s ears were attuned   …. For Jesus’s sake.