I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Luke 4-5

Every time I read the account of the temptations which Jesus faced in the wilderness I see them as representing the temptations by which everyone who sees the wrong in this world is tempted.  One of those temptations is the temptation to think that if we could just solve everyone’s material needs, all would be well.  Another temptation is the belief that if we just had the right people in positions of political power, they could fix what is wrong with our world.  The last temptation is in some ways the most insidious.  We are tempted to think that all we need to do is to get people to worship God correctly, all of their other problems would go away.

Each of these temptations fall short of what God wants from us.  Each of these temptations represent real problems in the world.  At different times to different people it will seem like the solution to these problems is just to work at whichever one most touches our soul.  Ultimately, none of these problems exists in isolation and, more importantly, we cannot fix them on our own.  We find in Jesus’ answers that the key to solving these problems is to realize that we cannot solve them.  And this is where I find trouble expressing the meaning this passage conveys to me.  So, let me give you Jesus’ answer to each of these temptations”

• “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word which comes from the mouth of God.”
• “You must worship the Lord your God and serve only Him.”
• “You must not test the Lord your God.”

Do you see what each of them has in common?  That’s right.  When we seek to solve this world’s problems our first step needs to be to turn to God, and to point others to Him as well.  We want one-size-fits-all answers, and there is only one of those.  That answer is that of Jesus on the Cross.  Jesus was victorious because He was willing to die to get His message across.  We cannot make people serve God, they have to want to serve Him.  We can’t make people experience what is best for them, they have to accept God’s word for it.