Divine Training

Immediately after Jesus was baptized, He was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. According to Matthew, the third temptation was as follows: "Again the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."" (Matthew 4:8,9)

(For those of you who are new to the faith- Jesus did not take the devil up on this most generous of offers.)

The devil knew the purpose for which Jesus had come to the earth. Ultimately, all of the universe will be under the lordship of Jesus: "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" (Revelation 11:15)

The devil tempted Jesus with a shortcut to accomplishing His mission. This was a test for Jesus, in His humanity, to prove that He was not willing to cut corners, to do the right thing in the wrong way. He resisted the shortcut when no one was looking. What did this produce in His life? Later on, Jesus would be made a similar offer: "Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone." (John 6:15)

Again, Jesus refused to become king the wrong way. He knew His mission, stayed focused, and resisted the temptation to take a shortcut.

The purpose of the testing in the wilderness, when no one was looking, was to prove that He would make the right choice in public, when everyone was.

This was true in the life of Christ and remains true for us today. What we do in private is indicative of what we will do in public. If you are asking God to use you in some extraordinary way, or if you have not received that promotion you are longing for in His service, it could be because He is still proving you in the wilderness- in the secret place. Your integrity is made of the choices you make when no one is watching. What we sow in secret, we will reap in public.

Don't take your secret choices lightly- God doesn't.