Prove it...Or Not!

June 30, 2020

Matthew 4:3 The entire quote reads, “When the tempter came to him, he said, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.”” Yesterday, I commented on how often I’ve tried eating stones instead of the Bread of Life. Whenever I do this, I not only fail to satisfy my hunger, I abrogate the role of the Son of God, acting as if I have the right to call the shots. It’s nothing less than the sin of Lucifer who dared to challenge the Almighty for control. 

Satan completely twisted what it meant to be the Son of God. The Son of God didn’t come into the world to do magic tricks; He didn’t come to satisfy his own desires. Had that been his goal, he would have remained in heaven. He came to seek and save the lost; to give his life a ransom for many. “IF you are the Son of God, prove it,” was the devil’s tactic. When I turn to the stones of this world to satisfy my inner hunger, I am setting myself up as God, trying to prove my power and authority. The god I become is at best a caricature of the One True God, ie. an idol. Feeding on stones is not only foolish; it is an arrogant supplanting of the One True God with an idol, misunderstanding what it means to be the Son of God, and setting myself up in opposition to the Father.

The Good News is, I don’t have to prove anything. I am not THE Son of God, but I am a son of God, not by virtue of anything I’ve done, but because Jesus Christ the Son of God refused to prove himself to Satan by turning stones into bread. Instead, he endured the hunger, refusing to satisfy himself, instead denying himself, taking up a cross, and dying on it for our salvation.