Luke 4:1-12 (NIV) 1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” 5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’” 9 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. 10 For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
When we think of temptation, we might think of a “little temptation,” like splurging on a chocolate sundae or telling a little white lie to get us out of trouble. Temptation is usually a little temptation, but it is also more than that. The bigger temptation is to live without trusting God, and that temptation comes cloaked in several little temptations.
There is an ancient proverb that says “beware of the camel’s nose.” The story is that once there was a camel and rider who suddenly come into a dust storm. The rider jumped off his camel, put up his tent and went inside. Soon he heard his camel nuzzling the tent and saying, “Please, let me put my nose in the tent. At least let me breathe some clean air.” First the camel’s nose was in, then his head, then his neck, and before long the rider was crowded out of his tent by the camel and he had to sleep in the dust storm. “Beware the camel’s nose.”
The temptations of Jesus were like that. In the desert, Jesus was tempted to compromise who He was and what He was called to do, but it was just a little temptation, the first small step that would lead to the erosion of His soul. The devil tempts us away from our trust in God one degree at a time.
How do we distinguish between the small stuff that is harmless and the “camel’s nose?” How do we tell the difference between the harmful and the harmless? We do it with Scripture. We get the power from Scripture. We sharpen our discernment with Scripture, though Scripture can be tragically misused and abused. But here is the mystery and the power of the Scriptures: we are not to apply the Scriptures “unto our lives.” We are to submit to them. That is the difference between receiving the Scriptures from the hand of the devil or from the hand of Jesus. When we receive from the hand of Jesus, the power of the Scripture is released in our lives and in our world and miracles occur. When we submit to the Scriptures, we see. We discern the harmless from the harmful. And we are released to live.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 4, 2001
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell
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