When my children were growing up, I tried to instill in them the idea of making crucial decisions in advance and sticking to them. Big decisions you only have to make once if you are committed to keeping them.
Jesus was an example of making such decisions. He was only tempted by Satan once as recorded in Matthew 4:1-11, KJV: Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Most Christians agree that there are seven deadly sins that all humans face: pride, greed, envy, anger, lust, gluttony and sloth. Christ in His season of temptation faced and overcame each one of them, though they were presented in only three different temptations. He was tempted with bodily needs and passions, pride, and finally with wealth and fame. Jesus was only tempted once because His decisions were final and irrevocable.
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. Jesus was more than a mortal man and was able to withstand much more than we can, but after 40 days, He was in a weakened and vulnerable state. He, like us, was most susceptible to sin when He was tired, hungry and weak. We make our biggest mistakes when our defenses are down. When Satan came to Him, Jesus could have fallen prey, but His decision overrode His appetites.
And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. This temptation was designed to appeal to the bodily appetites. Anger, lust, gluttony and sloth are among those sins. If Satan could have persuaded Jesus to succumb to make the stones into bread, he would have destroyed His divine mission. One unleashed passion leads to greater sins. We must make irrevocable decisions in advance of the temptation. Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, made such a decision. When tempted to lay with Potiphar’s wife, he didn’t stop to ask, "Is this a good or bad thing? How can I hide this from my boss?" He ran. Sometimes we must run instead of waiting to see what happens.
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Jesus’ answer is revealing to where His priorities were. Food is not the answer to life, but spiritual direction is the most important. In other words, Jesus’ relationship with His Father was supreme. He had a firm conviction that God would direct His life. God would lead Him to the bread He needed. He would have His needs met as He counseled with the Lord. We too will have that assurance as we give our lives over to God and make firm, unyielding decisions to follow Him no matter what the outcome. Decisions are so much easier if we know to whom we owe our allegiance.
Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. This temptation takes in the sin of pride. Satan knew if Jesus succumbed to the temptation, He would be the Messiah the Jews had been expecting. He would have shown His great power, and everyone would have looked at Him with awe and wonder. Everyone would have believed because of the miracle they had seen. Satan would have won the victory. Jesus would have been stopped from His mission, which was to give His life for all humanity. The faith, new birth and changing of hearts in thousands of His followers would have been lost. His followers would have been looking for outward signs, not inwards signs. The humble Jesus we know would have been filled with pride and self-glory.
Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. The answer Jesus gave to this temptation was profound. It reflects His inner commitment. In effect, He was saying, “My decision is already made.” He referred back to the scriptures and let Satan know that He is going to do exactly what was right. We too can gain power in reading the scriptures and using them to help us make irrevocable decisions to do what is right. If we have grounded our souls in the scriptures and know what is right and wrong, it is not as easy to be swayed.
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. This temptation, of course, appeals to the desire for wealth, fame and power. Greed and envy are the underlying causes for such desires. From Satan’s perspective, “Who would not want the whole world? Who would not want to be king over everything?” He has trapped many a man with that same temptation and has ruined them: Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Napoleon and Hitler, to name a few. Jesus was not fooled with the well-woven web of Satan. He again turned to the scriptures.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. He cast Satan out of His life by not giving any room to continue the conversation. Satan no longer had power to tempt Him.
Casting Satan out of our own minds is powerful. We cannot entertain two thoughts at one time. If we are bothered by a thought, we do not have to allow it to stay in our minds. A simple, “Get thee hence, Satan,” will stop any thought from taking root and leading to an action. Like Joseph of Egypt, we can run. We need to flee the situation before we are trapped. King David was trapped by his passion when he stayed to watch Bathsheba bathe. His life would have had such a different ending if he had closed his eyes or pulled down the curtains.
Many people allow their thoughts to travel without restraint from one thought to another. They do not realize that learning to control thoughts is the power behind a great life. Consider that divorces start with a single thought that is allowed to play over and over in one’s mind. Murder, adultery and thievery all start in the mind and are allowed to go unchecked until the thought becomes an action. Every crime or evil deed that has ever been committed began in someone’s mind. If at the first tickle of the thought, the person had said, “Get thee hence, Satan,” the crime would never have been committed because the temptation would have died in that instant.
Gossip begins with a thought. Unrighteous judgment begins with a thought. Unkindness and hatred begin with a thought and a knee-jerk reaction. Unless we have made a firm commitment in advance, we are led by our passions. We act before we think. We follow our animal instincts, not our logical mind. We make decisions with our dinosaur brain. King David’s murder of Bathsheba’s husband was committed before he logically thought about it. He simply wanted his sin to be covered. What a wonderful world we would live in if everyone said, “Get thee hence, Satan,” at the first sign of an evil thought.
Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Satan left Jesus and angels came to minister to Him. It is interesting how that works for us, too. Satan must go when we ask him to leave. He may come back to check the depth of our commitment, but if we keep kicking him out, he won’t have the stamina to keep coming back. He will have to find some new way to tempt us. When we make the right decisions, angels will come to us. We won’t generally see them, but the sweet feeling of love that sweeps over us is an indication that they are not far away.
