Who are you? What makes you special? (Mt 4:5-7)

Matthew 4:5-7

Let’s continue from yesterday the temptations of Christ. In the second temptation, Satan also tempted Jesus by questioning His identity. This is a core issue for every one of us. Who are you? What makes you unique?

This is the root cause of so much pain in this world. People go lusting after drugs, or sex, or power, and a million other things, because they just aren’t quite sure who they are or where they fit in. God made you absolutely uniquely in this world. There is no one else like you! He has a special name for you that only He knows. Although He did not have to make you, He had a totally unique idea about why you would make this world a better place and then created you so that He could live forever with you! Do you see your identity in this way? Do you know that this is who you are? If you struggle seeing yourself this way, I hope you’ll keep coming back and ask God to show you this.

Jesus was tempted in this same way. Satan questioned who He was! Pride beckoned Him to show this little demon who was the real King. So Jesus had to triumph over this pride of life that affects all of us in big or small ways. Jesus said He learned obedience through the things He suffered (see Heb. 5:8). And this was an important thing God was calling Him to suffer through. 

Satan also used scripture for his own purposes. It would have been much easier in that moment for Jesus to answer, “Yes, the scripture does say that about me” when tempted to take matters into His own hands. But that was not what God was saying in the scripture Satan quoted, and that was not the will of God Jesus knew through the Holy Spirit to be true.

This is a temptation that we fight often as well. The world is constantly telling us how we should interpret scripture in ways that are outside of God’s Will. Even well meaning Christians can teach things they believe to be true which are actually twisting of scripture to fit some agenda they may not even be aware of. Is this happening to you? Never stop seeking God on what He is really saying to you today.

The second and third temptations are both concerned with power and glory on this earth. We’ll discuss that when we discuss the third temptation tomorrow, which many look at as being rooted in the lust of the eyes.

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