Selfish

“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’’  Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” (Matthew 4:10-11).

Temptation of Christ (James B Janknegt)

Have you ever stopped to think about why some people are Christians and some are not?

I have been thinking about that today.  You see, Christ calls us to Him.  And He does not call everyone.  Some people will never be called.  And this is not because God does not want them, but rather because I do not do the work that He has assigned to me and do not call them in His name…

There is an unselfishness required of a soul who does the Holy Will of God.

After all, to do God’s Will I must first surrender my own will.  There was a simplicity to the life of Christ.  When He was tempted in the wilderness, the final temptation was for Christ to accept leadership over the world in exchange for submission to Satan…

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’  Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said, ‘throw yourself down. For it is written: He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’’  Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’’  Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” (Matthew 4:1-11).

And I wonder sometimes whether I have been subject to the same temptation?  For I have traded God’s Holy Will for my own, which is really just another way of saying that I have subjected myself to Satan so that I can gain dominion of some part of this world.

And I have been thinking about that today.  For it seems to me that Christ – who is God of the Universe – came to Earth and spent forty days in the desert being tempted by Satan, just so that I would be able to see how to resist that same temptation.  And it seems to me that I have spent my lifetime failing to see just that…

My poor God.  My poor poor God.

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.