THE STORY OF MY LIFE ………….
Autobiographies always make interesting reading, as long as the author is honest with himself, and his readers, in the writing about his life experiences. Though it can always be contested. But then dishonesty and lack of integrity, give the true picture of the author. Reading about someone’s experiences as recounted by the person himself give certain insights which no biographer can produce, even if reported. So far, no autobiography exists about Jesus Christ. But, this statement is incorrect. We do have experiences recounted by Jesus. As no one was present during His testing in the desert … which are sometimes erroneously called temptations … these experiences were written by Jesus Himself, through His Holy Spirit.
So we can call this particular ‘text’ as a part of the autobiography of Jesus. Certainly this ‘testing’ was faced by Jesus, who was no ordinary human, like we are. The tempter would have never ‘tempted’ or invited me to change stone into bread. The tempter would have never tempted me to jump from on high. He was dead sure no angels were coming to my rescue. Finally, he would never have offered any bounty for going down on my knees to adore him.
But this argument is correct, as much as it is incorrect. I shall explain. The devil was not hundred percent sure that Jesus of Nazareth was ‘divine’, was the real Messiah. These doubts persisted throughout the three-year public ministry of Jesus. They persisted up to the last breath of Jesus on the cross. We all remember the challenge: “If you are the Son of God, come down, save yourself and save others.” Certainly the devil was speaking through a human medium. To satisfy his curiosity the devil asked or rather challenged Jesus to perform three acts, which only a divine person could do.
But, in actual fact the devil tempts me, and all humanity with these three temptations. Just look at the state of society nowadays, as always; more interested in material things rather than in the spiritual matters. In fact the reply Jesus gave has hit the nail on the head: “Man does not live by bread alone.” And this is one of man’s main problems; he is ignoring the second part of Christ’s answer, which is the need of the ‘Word of God’. Joy, as promised at the Birth of Jesus, comes only through believing and spreading His Word, and not by amassing wealth, property, power and the rest.
You must be out of your senses to jump from a height, simply to be ‘master of all you survey’. Your IQ must be similar to that of Simon the Magician … and we all know how Simon died. But many are those who are following in the steps of Simon the Magus. Their main aim in life is to ‘own’, own everything in life; be it wealth, power, women, enjoying life, authority … you name it. Man is striving to be self-dependent. Man has become his own ‘god’. He expects, he believes that he can do without God, because he is powerful, he occupies a position of authority, he has enough money to influence anyone according to his whims and plans. Tony, to mention a name, has become his own god. And this way we are testing God’s patience. But we have miserably failed our ‘test’.
It is unfortunate that many are giving ‘full marks’ to Satan by believing in his promises, by falling for his gimmicks. His hatred and envy for man is so great, it’s astronomical. The devil hates man because humanity has been redeemed by the Blood, the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Let us not fall for his tricks, nor for his promises. Lucifer does not believe in the COD, that is ‘Cash on Delivery’. Absolutely not, he is so generous, gracious, benevolent that he advances his payment before we report for work. BUT, once we swallow the bait it would be too late.
We can learn much how to behave during our temptations, from the ‘trials’ of Jesus on the mount, especially from the answers given to the Grand Master of Lies. I imagine Jesus citing the words of that beautiful song, ‘The old cross’: “I will cling to the old rugged cross and change it one day for a crown.”
Autobiographies always make interesting reading, as long as the author is honest with himself, and his readers, in the writing about his life experiences. Though it can always be contested. But then dishonesty and lack of integrity, give the true picture of the author. Reading about someone’s experiences as recounted by the person himself give certain insights which no biographer can produce, even if reported. So far, no autobiography exists about Jesus Christ. But, this statement is incorrect. We do have experiences recounted by Jesus. As no one was present during His testing in the desert … which are sometimes erroneously called temptations … these experiences were written by Jesus Himself, through His Holy Spirit.
So we can call this particular ‘text’ as a part of the autobiography of Jesus. Certainly this ‘testing’ was faced by Jesus, who was no ordinary human, like we are. The tempter would have never ‘tempted’ or invited me to change stone into bread. The tempter would have never tempted me to jump from on high. He was dead sure no angels were coming to my rescue. Finally, he would never have offered any bounty for going down on my knees to adore him.
But this argument is correct, as much as it is incorrect. I shall explain. The devil was not hundred percent sure that Jesus of Nazareth was ‘divine’, was the real Messiah. These doubts persisted throughout the three-year public ministry of Jesus. They persisted up to the last breath of Jesus on the cross. We all remember the challenge: “If you are the Son of God, come down, save yourself and save others.” Certainly the devil was speaking through a human medium. To satisfy his curiosity the devil asked or rather challenged Jesus to perform three acts, which only a divine person could do.
But, in actual fact the devil tempts me, and all humanity with these three temptations. Just look at the state of society nowadays, as always; more interested in material things rather than in the spiritual matters. In fact the reply Jesus gave has hit the nail on the head: “Man does not live by bread alone.” And this is one of man’s main problems; he is ignoring the second part of Christ’s answer, which is the need of the ‘Word of God’. Joy, as promised at the Birth of Jesus, comes only through believing and spreading His Word, and not by amassing wealth, property, power and the rest.
You must be out of your senses to jump from a height, simply to be ‘master of all you survey’. Your IQ must be similar to that of Simon the Magician … and we all know how Simon died. But many are those who are following in the steps of Simon the Magus. Their main aim in life is to ‘own’, own everything in life; be it wealth, power, women, enjoying life, authority … you name it. Man is striving to be self-dependent. Man has become his own ‘god’. He expects, he believes that he can do without God, because he is powerful, he occupies a position of authority, he has enough money to influence anyone according to his whims and plans. Tony, to mention a name, has become his own god. And this way we are testing God’s patience. But we have miserably failed our ‘test’.
It is unfortunate that many are giving ‘full marks’ to Satan by believing in his promises, by falling for his gimmicks. His hatred and envy for man is so great, it’s astronomical. The devil hates man because humanity has been redeemed by the Blood, the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Let us not fall for his tricks, nor for his promises. Lucifer does not believe in the COD, that is ‘Cash on Delivery’. Absolutely not, he is so generous, gracious, benevolent that he advances his payment before we report for work. BUT, once we swallow the bait it would be too late.
We can learn much how to behave during our temptations, from the ‘trials’ of Jesus on the mount, especially from the answers given to the Grand Master of Lies. I imagine Jesus citing the words of that beautiful song, ‘The old cross’: “I will cling to the old rugged cross and change it one day for a crown.”
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