New Temptations
Matthew 4:8 Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”
“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”
The new temptations are the same as the old temptations - and I’m not talking about the musical group! An age-old ploy of the devil is to get us to give our devotion to anything and anyone but God. It is the temptation to replace God with something else with the promise that something else can give you only what God can give you. Satan was offering Jesus kingdoms, wealth, privilege, stardom and access to what most people seek. We seek these things because they promise everything that our flesh craves but they can never deliver the life they tantalize us with. That’s what idols do; they promise what they cannot deliver.
This temptation is all too real. For parents in our modern-day culture the temptation is to replace strong God centered leadership for the coach. It is trading the influence of children or student ministry for the locker room. It is trading the day of worship for the traveling team. Satan lures parents with the same old temptation that he lured Jesus with; “look at what this activity will do for your kid, he/she is star material, all I ask is that you kneel and pursue this dream.” In the end what most parents have is a mediocre athlete who has pursued trophies instead of pursuing Jesus and it is evident when Christ is no longer important to them. It is only then that they realize their mistake. Sports is a modern-day idol that Satan uses to subtly get parents and their kids to abandon faith.
Idols abound in life. Satan wants to swap your devotion to Jesus for all kinds of stuff; money, sex, education, career, kids, a spouse, fame, popularity, to be liked, respect, etc. The list of potential candidates to take Jesus’ place is never ending.
Jesus understood that what Satan was asking for was worship. Worship is giving ourselves to what we think is worthy or “worth it.” Whatever we find worthy we end up serving; we serve with our time, our checkbook, our schedules and our “what’s important” list. Everybody is worshipping something. Everybody serves something. That is the way we are made. Jesus is the only worthy of all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Let’s keep Him front and center.
