Luke 4:5

Luke 4:5

“The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world”

The situation is still Jesus enduring the desert. He’s been there for 40 days and overcome that first temptation to turn a rock into bread. He’s going to be physically exhausted, and yet still He has overcome temptation. If we were in Jesus’ sandals we would hope that would be the end of the story. We have had our wilderness time, and had our temptation – a very real and legitimate one. One would hope that that would be it, but the devil does not stop. 1 Peter 5:8 says:

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour”.

Prowling around like a lion means that the devil is looking for any weakness to take advantage of. He’s not going to see you triumph over a temptation and then give up. It is brilliant for him when Christians mess up, and in turn shame the Jesus they represent. For Satan that is triumph, and he succeeds time and time again because he is persistent. We need to keep alert, because we ALL let our guard down, and in those moments we’re vulnerable to the real damage that Lion can do.

Jesus is led up to a high place (quite a change from the desert He’s become accustomed to) and shown “all the kingdoms of the world” (must have been pretty high right). The point I want to take from this verse is imagination. The bible does not specify how exactly Jesus could see all the kingdoms in an instant (perhaps he was REALLY high, or it was the kingdoms in the known world, or a vision, or some kind of imparted knowledge – I don’t know?), but Jesus saw them. They did not belong to Him, but could do. Likewise, all temptation, and so sin starts in the mind. We imagine something, think life would be better with or without it, and then act on it, and doing so separates us from God. For Jesus it was being shown every ‘kingdom’; for us it could be imagining getting revenge on that person, or what it would be like to put them down in front of their friends. Imagination is an amazing gift, and being able to think ahead is what makes humans such a successful animal, but it likewise gives us opportunities to imagine things that are not good for us, and run away with those thoughts. Let’s pray for an awareness of where our negative thoughts often go, and how that can lead us into actions we regret and damage us. Let’s carry on being alert, so the enemy cannot take our thoughts and use them to our downfall.

Romans 12:2 “…be transformed by the renewal of your mind”

Update:

Since starting this blog I became a Counsellor. You can read more on blog on subjects like Therapy at:

 www.simonslistening.co.uk