Not a piece of cake

Hard to resist
These verses make it clear that temptation can involve suffering. Far from being something to treat lightly – ‘Go on then, just one more slice of chocolate cake – you’re tempting me’ – it’s a serious thing that we can’t escape.

Jesus was faced with temptation in the desert (Matthew 4:1–11), and before the anguish of the cross he prayed fervently that he might not have to bear it (Luke 22:39–46).

The fact that he was God – divine – didn’t make it easier for him to resist the temptation to give in or give up. It caused him the greatest suffering to contemplate the depths of our sin and to submit to the punishment of the cross for it, but he who is like us in every way – fully human – did.

Jesus understands
So when we’re tempted, Jesus fully understands how hard it is for us not to give in or give up, and he will help us to resist and continue to live in obedience to him. Growing in faith will certainly involve temptation; Jesus became like us in order to deliver us from sin so that we can grow to be like him.

 

Most people have an Achilles heel of one sort or another. In what areas of life do you find it most challenging to obey? Ask the Lord to help you live as he wants you to.

Today’s reading takes us to the heart of our salvation. Read it again, slowly. The idea in verse 10 is very similar to what I have long believed to be the most extraordinary statement in Scripture: ‘It was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer’ (Isaiah 53:10). With Peter we want to cry out ‘Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!’ (Matthew 16:22), only revealing that we do not have our minds set on the things of God.

We do not realise the depth of the plight that we are in and the depth of God’s love for us, that he chose to go to this length in order to bring us to glory. It was fitting – think about it – that Jesus should complete (‘make perfect’) his life the way that he did (v 10).

But he did, and those of us who have put our faith in him he calls brothers and sisters. There is nothing that can separate us from his presence and his love (Romans 8:35–39). Even death itself has been disarmed. During his earthly ministry the demons yielded to Jesus’ power. Now the devil himself is conquered (vs 14,15). We read of men and women through the ages who amazed those who threatened them and wonder how it was possible for them to stand firm with such courage.

Peter himself was a changed man in the book of Acts. Hebrews will present us with a pageant of such leaders in chapter 11. How is this possible? ‘In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God … should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered’ (v 10). It was not angels, but us that God chose to save.

Don’t miss verse 18, a very down-to-earth corollary, a promise that has been precious to generations of Christians.

 

Read the Bible in a year:

Leviticus 21,22
 
Matthew 11