The 1st. Sunday of Lent

 

Like any soldier going off to war;

Jesus was going into battle;

And the desert was the crucible in which to prepare.

For in the desert,

It is just you and the sand;

And so the devil was swirling around Him,

Coming at Jesus from all sides.

First one temptation and then another then another.

Trying to blind Jesus;

And keep his eyes off the goal;

Of His Father’s Will and Calvary.

So the devil tempted Jesus with food.

He knew Jesus had to be hungry after fasting for 40 days.

Certainly He would give in to His appetites.

But Jesus knew

One does not live on bread alone.

One does not live by feeding one’s appetites

Our appetites are like a roaring lion saying “Feed me.”

Not just our appetite for food but for, the desires of the flesh. power, control, revenge, material things.

When we give in to these temptations our appetites only roar louder and threaten to consume us.

The second temptation was to doubt God.

If God loved Jesus as His only Son,

Certainly God would protect Him from all harm and evil.

Jesus knew,

That you shall not put God to the test.

How often do we test God’s love?

If God really loved me He would save me, free me; protect me, help me.

When we give in to this temptation it does nothing but increase our doubts and lead us to despair.

The last temptation was all about the riches of this world.

The devil tempted Jesus by telling Him that happiness and fulfillment and found in the world.

Jesus knew that,

The Lord God is the only one we should worship and serve.

So many people worship at the altar of power, money, possessions, sports, popularity, good looks;

Idols all made out of sand.

Lent is a time for us to go into the desert and face our battles and our temptations and not be fooled

For they are just sand that slips through our fingers

Always leaving us empty handed.