Soul Food

“And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”  Luke 4:4

Jesus was having a conversation with the devil (which, by the way, is not recommended for you or me), His constant adversary (and ours, too), after coming off a forty day fast in the wilderness.  Going without nourishment for that length of time would make one weak and vulnerable, the perfect time for the devil to attack.  Satan, known as the “tempter”, said to Jesus, “If you are really God’s Son, turn these stones into bread”.  He was trying to get Jesus to doubt the goodness of God, i.e. “why would Your Father allow You to be without food?”  Of course Jesus would not succumb to the devil’s trick.  Even so, though, Satan didn’t give up.  He proceeded to dare Jesus to jump off the highest part of the temple thereby making a show of His power and bringing an insult to His Father.  Again Satan failed at tempting Jesus to be presumptuous of His Father’s care.

The third temptation that Satan put forth to Jesus was the most outrageous of all.  The devil took Jesus up onto a mountain to show Him all the kingdoms of the world stating that if Jesus would fall down and worship him, then the world would all belong to Him.  It always amazes me every time that I read this because Satan was promising to give Jesus all that already belonged to Jesus.  This was and is how desperate Satan was and is to take Jesus’ place as sovereign ruler.  Each time Satan tempted Jesus, Jesus replied with the same answer: “Go read what My Father has written.”

The Bible is the only book that God ever wrote.  While it is entertaining to read novels and educational to read textbooks, there are no more entertaining stories or words to teach us the important things of life than the scriptures.  You can find drama, comedy, love, hate, heroes, heroines, and villains throughout the pages of the Old and New Testaments.  There are some things in scripture that folks are surprised to learn are actually in the Bible, while there are other things that folks think are in the scriptures, but they are not.  The best way to know is to find out for yourself.  While preachers and teachers are vastly important to our Christian growth, nothing helps us more than to dig into the pages of scriptures for ourselves.  Good commentaries and a Bible dictionary are very helpful as we study God’s word.

Folks say that they don’t read the Bible because it is too hard to understand.  I think the real reason is that many people do not want to know the truth about themselves because then they must respond.  The more we know, the more for which we are responsible.  They say that ignorance is bliss–maybe for some things, but not for life, death, and eternity.  Sometimes the truth hurts, but avoiding the truth can hurt a lot more in the long run.  The bottom line is:  study God’s word as if your life depends on it, because it does.  It is food for your soul.