Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...18

Jesus was tempted in the wilderness just as we are. The tempter pulled at Him to sidetrack the Cross/Tomb goal. Jesus overcame.

John says we are pulled by this world away from the Father's love. The last aspect of this worldly love is the pride of life. Being boastful of what one has and does comes not from a core of Father-love, but from the base world of physical reality.

The truth is we are a soul composed of a body and filled with a spirit. In the creation of man, God fashions a mud-man out of dust and breathes into this figure spirit or the breathe of life. Then we became a living soul.

Far too often we live in the physical reality while ignoring the spiritual. In so doing we are less than human. Life consists of more than what we eat or wear -- Jesus said.

The pride of life deceives us into thinking we are only what we have and what we do. We boast about our possessions our accomplishments. Even the Barney Fifes of life drop names and activities into conversation trying to impress or justify their worth.

Satan whispered to Jesus, ..."if you are...you have special protection..." This tease tugs at who Jesus is and appeals to pride. God had promised and, as discussed in a previous post, will provide this special protection to His Son numerous times. The temptation in the wilderness puffs up the promise as a way to prove worth or show off to the crowds no doubt congregated at the Temple. Literally, pride would have gone before a fall -- a fall most likely leading to Jesus' premature and non-redemptive death.

Money, power, popularity -- all hold the temptation to pride. Huberis has been listed by our RC brethren as one of the Deadly Sins. Pride launched Lucifer and Nebechadnezzar into a failed rebellion to usurp the Divine throne. Pride moved Adam and Eve to seek to be God-like. Pride deludes us into thinking we stand secure at the very moment we teeter on the brink of disaster.

The victory over pride? Submission to God and God-appointed authority. Jesus deflected the deceiver by quoting, "Don't tempt the Lord, your God." He humbled Himself in submission to the Father's will. We need to do the same, to submit our decisions to His descretion, to yield our wants to His way, to  pass the praise to the Provider. In the process we need to guard that we don't become proud of our humility.

We can overcome this temptation as we walk in the Yoke of the Yielded One. "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11.28-30