He is rich in Love

Luke 4:3-4 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”

              Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness throughout his period of fasting. Luke 4:2 mentions that Jesus was hungry and the devil seeing his opportune moment used this moment of vulnerability and possible weakness. Devil is like a roaring lion waiting for someone to devour ( 1 Peter 5:8) . Here it seems that the nature of this temptation is just physical. I believe the devil’s attack was on Jesus’ identity. He begins the whole temptation with an ‘if’ with the motive to make Jesus doubt His own identity. He used this same trick at the garden of Eden with Eve and enticed them to become like God. They fell for the fruit in spite of the abundance around.

              We too in our lives face these tests of identity. The devil who is also known as the accuser of the brethren comes up with various accusations and schemes to make us doubt our identity in Christ. He knows that he can only get us when we separate ourselves from the identity that we have in Christ and often he tries to uses our own memories to disqualify us from going back to God. We have to remind ourselves over and over again that we are a new creation in Christ and old things have passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17). Just like Jesus who fixed His ears upon what His father told Him rather on what the devil was trying to tell Him. Jesus was reminded of His father’s affirmation in Matthew 3:17, “This is my beloved son, in whom I’m well pleased”.

                 When we realize how much beloved we are in Him, we cannot fall for the devil’s tactics. God loved us at our darkest times. Even when we were dead He loved us and made us alive in Christ. He never stopped expressing His love. His mercies are new every morning. Each day His love for us is progressive. Man we can’t even imagine how much He loves. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:4-7 that God’s whole motive to save us was love but He didn’t just stop there, He wants to show more of His kindness in the coming days. He is rich in love. Can we just focus on His love and find our identity secured?

Samuel Thomas (Sam)
Sam is a Christian minister who is serving the Lord in various capacities. He is working through Cross Impact and also involved with Crossway Church. He can be reached on samvthom16@gmail.com