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Tuesday, August 16, 2011

It is written...


"Jesus said to him, 'On the other hand, it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"--Matthew 4:7.  Here we find the second of the three temptations of Christ.  Here we find what 1 John 2:16 would call the lust of the boastful pride of life.  What is happening here is that Satan or "the tempter" as he is called in Matthew 4:3 is tempting Christ to throw Himself off the top of the temple knowing full well that the angels would bear Him up and save Him (See Matthew 4:5-6).  Christ knew this was true but was not about to put God to the test. Why? Because it is written...

It is written.  Christ knew what God could and would do for Him if necessary but Christ was not about to abuse the privilege and violate God's will by putting God the Father to the test.  Again why? Because it is written.

It is written.  Just like there is so much the Father would do for Jesus, there is so much Jesus can and does do for us as Christians.  We have to admit as Christians we have blessings that others do not.  Time does not allow me to list those out.  However, because we have said blessings we need to be reminded that we are not to abuse them.  Why? Because it is written...

We are not to put God to the test when it comes to the blessings He gives us.  The main blessing that comes to my mind is the blessing of grace we receive through obedience to the gospel.  We know from Romans 6:1-2 that grace is a blessing we are not to abuse. Why? Because it is written.

It is written.  So how does this all connect to Matthew 4:7 and how does it apply to us? Well if you say you have never been tempted by "the tempter" to sin, that would make both you and God a liar (1 John 1:8-10).  We know that sin is the reason we receive grace or unmerited favor.  In other words, we are receiving from God what we don't deserve, Amen.  But for us to abuse that privilege that is going far beyond what God allows.  Therefore, we must make a constant and diligent effort to keep ourselves from sinning so that we do not put God to the test and abuse God's grace.  Why? Because it is written. So take this as a simple reminder to remove whatever it is that might be tempting you to sin. This of course goes for me as well.

Do not put God to the test.  Why? BECAUSE IT IS WRITTEN.

Additional tidbit.  This is an acronym for grace that I have always liked (GRACE = God's Reward's At Christ's Expense) :-)

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!

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