No throwing

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

NO THROWING

Luke 4:1-13

4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 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 does 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, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.   7 So 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 says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"  13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

NIV

Now, how do we deal with this third temptation of Jesus? They were on the temple's highest point, and the devil wanted Jesus to prove that God would protect him if he jumped off and fell to the ground. Jesus made it clear, once again, from the word of God that it is not right to put the Lord God to a foolish test. We could take off on this foolish test and think of times that we might have been guilty of putting the Lord our God to a foolish test. But then, we are having a difficult time remembering when, if at all, we did that. We are more than aware of the word of God, and always thinking about the will of God concerning us, so to put the Lord to a foolish test, would be going against everything we know. However, it could be possible to do that without knowing, if we get too caught up in self, rather than being totally caught up in God. However, the idea that the devil tempted Jesus to throw himself down so that God would catch him or keep him would not strike his foot against a stone, which the devil sort of quoted from Psalm ninety-one. The line before that quote is all about if we make the Lord God our dwelling place, then no harm will befall us. Still, we wonder if we have ever thrown ourselves down, at least metaphorically. That would be throwing ourselves down, as a person, thinking poorly about ourselves, being saddened over our condition or situation in life, thinking we have a black cloud hanging over us. Thinking we are not worthy of anything, or any blessing from God because of something we did, or what we are not doing, or doing enough. Are we throwing ourselves in a bad light, so to speak? However, we have to always remember that we were created in the image of God and we bear his image, that we are his children and so we look just like him. Then, we start thinking, throwing ourselves down, or letting the devil tempt us to cast ourselves down by making us think we don’t look like our Father at all, that maybe we look more like him instead. The devil always wants us to think we are not good enough, that we do not reflect the glory of God, that we are not being kept from harm because we have not made God our dwelling place, and there are no angels or the Spirit watching over us. Let us not ever even hear that wicked voice of the devil. Let us shut our ears to his attempts, for we are a holy one of God, saved by the blood of Jesus, and are a child of the Living God. We will not throw ourselves down.