What’s Our Source?

Daniel 7-8; Psalms 137; Luke 4 

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: Man does not live on bread alone.’”

Luke 4:1-4

We are all hungry - hungry for love, for acceptance, for recognition, for purpose, for meaning, and hungry for life. Jesus was tempted by the devil to meet his physical needs before his spiritual hunger. Jesus had deliberately inverted the order of needs to focus on his spiritual hunger, then his soul, and finally his body. The devil would tempt us to invert that order and ignore the hunger of our spirit and soul. Before Jesus entered a full life of ministry to people, he was tested regarding his source of life.

Would his source for life be in the approval, provision, and acceptance of people, or in the words of love and life of his Father?

If we haven’t passed this most basic test, vocational ministry can be challenging and even dangerous.

“Lord Jesus, you are my source. My life comes from you and your Word. Give me strength to resist the temptations of the flesh today.”