Not on bread alone...

"And the tempter came and said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.' But He answered and said 'It is written, 'Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'-- Matthew 4:3-4.  Here we find the first of three temptations Christ faces just prior to beginning His ministry.  This will be the first of three blogs dealing with the three temptations of Christ.  This particular temptation would be a type of temptation that 1 John 2:16 would call "the lust of the flesh."  Christ had been fasting for forty days. He was hungry. However, satisfying his short term craving would mean violating the will of God. God's will is that we should live but not on bread alone.

Not on bread alone. Consider the image above.  A loaf of bread.  Looks pretty fresh baked and ready to eat.   But there is one problem. You know that eating that bread would mean violating God's will.  What would you do? After 40 days with no food, would you take it and risk losing eternity simply to satisfy a short term craving?  I am sure you are tempted to say you would resist the temptation but how often have we fallen victim to temptation simply to satisfy the lust of the flesh.  There is a reason we are not to live on bread alone.

Not on bread alone.  Earlier tonight I made the decision to grab something quick and cheap for dinner.  So where did I go? None other than McDonalds.  As I began to eat the double quarter pounder that I ordered, it tasted pretty gross and I asked myself why did I waste my money on this junk?  Of course I didn't violate God's will in doing this but I made a decision I wound up regretting simply to satisfy a short term craving.

Not on bread alone.  Another thing that happened today was when I went to lunch.  I went to lunch with one of my instructors from here at the Bear Valley Bible Institute of Denver.  As soon as we got in the car, he told me he was fasting so he would just be having juice at lunch. Can't say whether it was for spiritual or health reasons but I felt bad because I was going to be eating right in front of him while we talked creating a temptation but he was okay with it because today was his fourth day of fasting. He made a decision and was not about to break it. He was not going to live on bread alone.

Not on bread alone.  So what am I getting at? Well I made a decision that I ended up regretting simply to satisfy my craving.  My instructor is forsaking his own cravings to make him a stronger and healthier person.  I bring this out because when we are faced with the choice of doing God's will or satisfying our craving, whatever that might be, what are we going to choose?  If we look all the way back to Genesis 3, we see that Adam and Eve were faced with a choice to eat a fruit that looked "good for food" (Genesis 3:6).  Their choice came down to doing God's will or satisfying a short term craving. And well, we know what they chose. As a result of their choice, they lost access to the tree of life and thereby lost eternity with God.  This was all because they failed to see that man shall not live on bread alone.

Not on bread alone.  Today we are faced with the same choices.  Are we going to satisfy our short term cravings or are we going to follow through with doing God's will?

Not on bread alone. You can probably guess what my encouragement to you tonight is going to be. My encouragement to you is, you guessed it, is to fast.  Tomorrow, make the decision to skip a meal and spend that time studying God's word.  Check out some passages that have to do with fasting and most importantly, spend some time in prayer during this time as well. I will do this with you. Its going to take discipline but it will be well worth it.  Fasting has helped some people overcome their struggle with any given sin.  This is because they realize that if they can deny their body one of the most basic needs, they can deny themselves the craving to sin. So...

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