In my last blog, we looked at the first of the three temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness. Matthew 4:1-11 Today, we look at His second temptation, the pride of life. Pride says things like "I'm important or "I can handle it" or "I don't need any help."
It is the John Wayne or Rambo syndrome. Self-confidence can be a good thing but there are limits to self-confidence. Even Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood) said, "A man got to know his limitations." This is one area we can all do better. Instead of counting on our own strength, we need to count on God's strength. We can try and prove our worth instead of pointing to the one who is truly worthy.
Satan tries to tempt Jesus to throw Himself from the roof of the Temple to prove He is the Messiah. Jesus didn't need to prove anything. Later in Jesus' ministry, the religious leaders told Him to perform a miracle and thus prove He was the Messiah. (Same temptation as Satan but different setting.)
When tempted with the pride of life let's replace "I can handle it" with I can't handle anything without God. John 15:5 Philippians 4:13 Let's replace "I'm important" with "More of Jesus and less of me." John 3:30
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