Show me the Kingdom.

So I was reading my Bible this morning and I came across something pretty cool that I've probly read millions...ok, maybe not a million, but quite a few times...Matthew 4.

It starts off talking about when Jesus was tempted by the devil while He was fasting in the desert. (first of all, fasting is hard enough, but He did it in the desert...that's pretty intense!)Anyway, Satan finds him and he's like "hey, if you're hungry, why don't you just turn some rocks into bread, huh?" and Jesus is like "Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." So boom Satan! (Deut. 8:3) Then Satan tells Him "why don't you fall down off of this really tall temple and get some angels to save you?" Jesus says Yeah right! "Do not test the Lord your God." (Deut. 6:16). So Satan tries again and tells Jesus he'll give him abunch of really awesome kingdoms (which is weird to me because it's not like Satan owned them and had the right to give them away) if Jesus will bow down to him, but Jesus resisted again and told the devil what was up. "Fear the Lord your God, serve Him only..." (Deut. 6:13)

So, that's maybe kind of a long recap, but here's what gets me: I never think about things being hard for Jesus. I always remember the part about how He is 100% God, but I think I forget too often that He was also 100% human...And if he was human, he went through things that we go through, like for example, being tempted. Is that crazy to anyone else, because it is to me. I think every other time I've read that story I've believed that Jesus was tempted but that it was super easy for Him to resist the temptations...Soo, maybe I'm wrong, but I've been thinking about it alot and it doesn't really make sense to me that someone could be tempted but not have some part of them that was like "gahhh, i really want that...so bad. At least for right now..."

Tempt= 1.to entice or allure to do something often regarded as unwise, wrong, or immoral.
2. to attract, appeal strongly to, or invite.

Anyway, yeah, I just think it's kinda great that our King Jesus was tempted in the desert by Satan Mc-Crappypants but Jesus said no way jose! And as followers of Jesus, we can say no way jose too because we have Jesus who is living INSIDE us! It sounds super hard to resist stuff that is bad for us yet sounds so appealing, but the point is that Jesus Christ already died for our sins on the cross and if we just let him have control of all our crap, our lives will go so much better. So yeahhh boyeee, let's do it!

Oh but hey, just as a sidenote: I'm definitely just learning what it means to give my crap to Jesus and let him reign in my life. I'm learning that when I do take the time to dig deep in His word that is is so sweet and satisfying and revealing and just worth it!

"Help me see the light, I'm reaching through the fight Yahweh. Show me the Kingdom. Arms open wide, death swallowed up by life. Yahweh, show me the kingdom." -B.D.