Luke 4:1-44
Do you know the Word of God?
I mean really know it.
Do you memorize scriptures? Do you study them and apply them to your life?
In Luke 4, we see Jesus being tempted by the devil. He was tempted for 40 days, and during those 40 days He did not eat. The devil tempted Jesus the same way he tempts us today. He knows our weaknesses, and he uses them to try to drag us into sin and pull us away from God.
In this passage, we see Satan use Jesus's human weaknesses against Him. Satan tempted Jesus in three ways in this passage: he exploited Jesus's hunger (verses 2-4), he tried to to conquer Jesus with greed (verses 5-8), and he tried to make Jesus sin using pride (verses 9-12).
Now, unlike us, Jesus was fully God and fully man. He was perfect and without sin. He was able to withstand the temptations of Satan.
What I find really interesting is that Jesus used scripture to drive Satan away. Each time that He was tempted, Jesus quoted scripture.
Scripture is powerful. In Ephesians 6:17, Paul refers to the Word of God as the "Sword of the Spirit". Hebrews 4:12 says "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
The Word of God is our sword that we can use to defend ourselves against temptation and sin. But it does us no good if we don't use it.
Every week, I give my Wednesday night kids a memory verse to memorize. My older class (4th-6th grade) said last week that they were too old to have to learn memory verses. I lectured them about the value of knowing God's Word for so long that I didn't even get to teach them their Bible story about Joseph before it was time for them to rotate to their next class.
You're never too old, or too young, to learn and apply the Word of God to your life. God gave us His Word as a guide book and a weapon against false teachings, temptation and sin.
Do you know God's Word? Do you use your Sword?
Jesus did, and I think we should too.
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