Father help us to do what you want. Help us to know what you want.
There's quite a lot said about the temptations of Jesus by the 'devil'. Firstly we need to look at the 'devil'. Current mainstream Christianity depicts him/it as a horned, hoofed, red cloaked being carrying a trident, but this is not what the Bible teaches.
Jesus was tempted "in all matters like we are". How often are you tempted by a horned, hoofed being?
To me the main issue is that Jesus replied, not with his own ideas, but with answers from scripture. It's very easy to justify what we do in our own eyes, but it may not be what God wants.
I was at a Christadelphian meeting at Easter and listening to a brother and sister saying that the scriptures are not as important as 'knowing God'. My reply was how can we know God without the scriptures? To this they replied that we should do what we think is right in our own judgement. I was slightly horrified.
There's an interesting quote about what heart is full of. I'll let you find it as part of the questions. But to summarise, temptations come from within. It's our own thoughts that make it seem so right, yet God knows it to be wrong.
One thing I like is fantasy and sci-fi and a few weeks ago I was watching one of the Sinbad films and after beating the usual collection of monsters, etc, he had only one foe left to defeat before he rescued the princess, got the treasure, etc and that was a copy of himself. Destroying dragons and giant spiders is easy in comparison, but overcoming ourselves is what God wants us to do.
It's too easy to fool ourselves. Temptations would be tempting if we always did what was right. Temptations come from within ourselves. That is what makes them so difficult.
How can we overcome this? By doing what God wants, not what we think is right at the time. Jesus could have thought that it made sense to turn stone into bread. It would help the environment, stop agricultural intensification, feed the poor, etc. But he didn't.
He could have stepped of the Temple buildings. This would have made much more converts, have saved him a little more energy to spend on his preaching efforts. But he didn't.
He could have commanded all the powers of the world. It is going to be his anyway, he would have stopped lots of wars and would achieve God's plan in one fell swoop. But he didn't.
Instead, he chose to do what God wanted, and what he knew God wanted. Because it was written in the scriptures. (Note: all his answers started with "It is written..."
What we sometimes want is not always what God wants.
Their comments reminded me of a quote about the last days – about doing what is right in their own eyes!
Can you find the quote about what the heart is full of?
Why are temptations so difficult to overcome?
How can we overcome temptations within?