Seeing the homeless men who hang out near our church makes me appreciate just how intense Jesus’ temptation must have been. “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. If you worship me, it will all be yours’” (Luke 4:5-7). 

Imagine you had spent the last six weeks homeless, scraping by with an empty stomach and a shiver trapped in your bones. One day you walk past a hotel and see a gourmet buffet spread out inside. As you’re fogging up the window, a voice says, “Hungry? I can get you all that food, a king-sized bed, and a hot shower. All you have to do is bow down, and in 30 seconds, it will be yours.”

How tempted would you be to cut a moral corner? But when the tempter tempted, Jesus resisted. “Jesus answered, ‘It is written: “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only”’” (Luke 4:8). “Not today, Satan. I worship God,” the fully human, very hungry Son of God insisted. 

And because he resisted, you have hope. No matter how hard this life might be, you have the hope of something better than all the splendor of this world. You have a place in the Father’s house, a seat at the feast in the kingdom of God.

Thank you, Lord, for sending a perfect Savior!