Don’t Let Your Gifts Become “Little g gods” | Tuesday
Week 1 | It’s All In Your Head
Listen instead of reading
Take a Moment
Ask God what He wants to show you before reading today
Read The Daily
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. (Hebrews 4:12)
In Matthew 4 we read about Jesus, after His baptism, heading into the desert, where He fasts for forty days and nights. At that time the enemy comes to Jesus to tempt Him. I believe the three temptations can give us a cheat code for our own temptations. Why? Because you can’t defeat what you don’t define.
The enemy tries to get Jesus to believe the lies in three distinct ways. The first was to turn stones into bread (Appetite Lie), then jump from the temple and the angels would rescue Him (Approval Lie), and finally, he offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world (Ambition Lie). Each lie promises to fulfill us outside of the gospel.
The Three Lies of the Enemy
Appetite: I need something more than God to be fulfilled
Approval: I need people to like/love me more to be fulfilled
Ambition: I need to achieve more to be fulfilled
But what if we would take the same approach that Jesus did? Three times, in three separate instances and temptations, Jesus exposed the lies and engaged the truth of God’s Word that He had been memorizing since He was a young Jewish boy. So, the first tool to learn to renew your mind and transform your life is the Replacement Principle: Remove the lies, replace with gospel truth. Once you grasp this tool, this weapon, you can begin to use it regularly to change your mind and your life. Even better, once we truly believe the good news that Jesus fulfills my appetite, approval and ambition all through Him, I can enjoy all of these things as gifts from God. But the second I chase any of them for true fulfillment outside of Him, the gifts from a big God turn into “little g gods” that never fulfill.
Prayer for the Day
God what are you showing me? What am I going to do about it?
God help me to see one person that I can serve through a kind word, random act of kindness, or simple gift today?
Make sure you complete the reading or comment today.
Read The New Testament In A Year
4 x 6 Plan | Read: Luke 8:1-15 & Titus 2:1-15