Fast Company
I can't imagine fasting for so long.
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him. - Matt. 4:1-11
I imagine if I tried to go without food for a long period, all I would think about is food.
That defeats the purpose of a fast, doesn't it? We are supposed to fast in order to clear our minds of the daily necessities, to allow us to focus on something deeper, more spiritual.
What Jesus experienced after fasting for over a month, was a verbal battle with temptation.
We can call it the devil, that voice within that plays on our thoughts, but foe this to make sense to most of us, why not just think of these challenges as coming from a starved brain?
After all, where do these temptations come from, these thoughts that plague us? They come from within, right?
We can think of the devil as an outside force, laying in wait for us to fail, to lose our strength to resist.
But for many of us, the decision to do something that goes against our nature or faith starts with us.
We can be our own worst company, especially when we are alone and have nothing but our own thoughts to console us.
The battle going on in Jesus' mind is so very human.
It is what makes us who and what we are, and because Jesus encountered it, he knows we lose the battle because of our own weaknesses.
The strength He gives us helps us defeat the devil inside us.
When we keep Him close, we are in good company.
More to come...