These essays are written in sequence and build on each other. Read the preceding essay here.
And when the tempter came to him, he said,
— KJV, Matt 4: 3-5
If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
But he answered and said,
It is written,
Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
For this to qualify as a “temptation” there must be something wrong with the Tempter’s suggestion. Otherwise it would not be a temptation.
Let us leave aside the question as to whether acts such as turning physical stones into physical bread are possible or desirable within the framework of the perfect Laws of God.
For now let us restrict ourselves to two other issues raised in this passage:
- What is the correct attitude towards “daily bread” vis-a-vis The Word?
- What is the place of miracles in the dissemination of The Word?
We shall explore the first question in this essay and the second one in the next installment.
An effective temptation must contain an element of truth. Lucifer was pointing out a genuine earthly problem (hunger). He was also suggesting that Christ should apply His Divine Power to solving this problem.
In the most general terms, Lucifer was suggesting that an effective strategy for Christ to adopt in His Mission (the bringing of The Word to mankind) was to provide immediate and innovative solutions to the myriad earthly problems man faces, such as hunger.
Lucifer’s “bright idea” was that mankind would be amazed at Christ’s miraculous abilities, and also be made more materially comfortable through them. This would ensure that men would have the interest, time, and energy to listen to The Word and imbibe it.
This is a tempting belief, but as Christ’s response indicates, it is false and misleading.
The falsehood of the idea presented by Lucifer is obvious today. Mankind is now very technologically sophisticated and many people live a life of comfort and possibilities unimaginable a few centuries ago. Yet there is no correlation between this “progress” and our spiritual maturity. On the contrary we appear to be regressing spiritually.
If all of mankind had actually lived according to God’s Will, there would be no suffering on Earth by now. That it is so is our own fault – all of us as individuals. The problem is not at the level of employers or of employees, nor of capital, nor of want of capital, nor of the Church, or the State, nor lack of discoveries, nor again of the varieties of nations and their separate interests.
The key lesson here is that in all things we must not hastily adopt the quick and easy material solution but seek first to understand God’s Will in the matter.
Through The Word it is possible to understand what is right in any matter. That we are desperate (e.g. hungry) or that the matter is “trivial” are not excuses for ignoring The Word.
Christ stated this directly at various times, e.g.:
But seek ye first the kingdom of God,
— Matt 6:33
and his righteousness;
He also stated it indirectly in different ways, e.g.:
How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!
— Luke 18:24-25
For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye,
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God
Here, The Word is not advocating against wealth. He is observing that because so much of life has been “monetized”, there is a strong temptation for money to become the default tool of the rich man when approaching any earthly issue.
Because of this, wealth can create a mental habit that makes using money the default response in almost every situation, whereby consideration of God’s Will only happens after money has failed or is not available. This stunts the spiritual development of the person in question.
It is in this light that Ecclesiastes 10:19 (“money answereth all things”) should be understood. It is not promoting the use of money, but commenting on the reality that man has now, wrongly, made all things subject to money.
In all things we must first seek God’s Will. “I’m just doing my job”, “That’s the way it is done”, “It’s just a money problem”, and similar excuses for falling short are not valid before The Word.
Today’s Resolution:
- We shall seek His Will first, even in the smallest things.
The Word, (Re)Discovered 