Welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for this daily challenge. It’s Thursday, the day we try to apply and live out what we’ve learned this week from the Bible. This week we’ve been studying how Jesus was perfect.
That sounds like it might be discouraging – of course he’s perfect. It may highlight for you just how imperfect you are…or how imperfect the people around you are…or the guy speaking in this video.
But that’s actually not a bad thing.
First step is admitting we have a problem, and we do have a problem abusing God’s good gifts, using them for purposes other than they were intended.
There are lots of examples, food, drink, loved ones, family, children, money, cars, sex, power, environment, the list goes on.
It boils down to three simple things: wealth, power and freedom. Satan tempts us with same three things as Christ. They are good, God given things that can be used or abused.
But Jesus shows us here, it all belongs to God. All power, authority are his. Our choices about how to use things are, like Christ’s example, meant to be centered on him and his words, not our own perfection.
If you’ve fallen short of that, of worshipping God with all your life, of using everything he’s given you perfectly, you probably know it’s crushing. But you’re not alone. You’re with all of humanity, other than this one man, Jesus, who withstood Satan’s temptation.
And that makes all the difference. He lived that perfect, holy sinless life we couldn’t. Then he sacrificed it, and gave it up for us. As the one person who didn’t deserve punishment for sin, he took the punishment we deserve, and freed us to enjoy what God has truly given us, and Satan can only pretend to offer.
It’s to help us reach our goal, which is to experience that true, freedom, power and wealth of the kingdom of heaven.
Whatever the world is offering you, check if God has already given it to you. When you’re less than perfect, and might give into temptation, know that this isn’t about your performance, it’s about his. You don’t need to cheat, test God, or give yourself to anything other than God. Jesus has already lived the perfect life so you don’t have to, but can rely on his gift of freedom.
Challenge: What offers are in front of you right now. A job? An investment? An idea? A way to cheat? A lottery ticket? What does God’s word say about it? Search an online Bible for this topic and see. How can you use God’s word to shape your response to this offer?
Meeting with a Group? Your discussion questions are in this week’s Group Study Guide