The Upper Room Devotional – Tuesday, March 18 Proving Ourselves? The devil brought [Jesus] into Jerusalem and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down from here.” - Luke 4:9 (CEB) I wanted the youth to think I was the greatest. I wanted them to tell their friends, “Hey, come to our church; our youth pastor is amazing.” When we planned a countywide event, I wanted to make it incredible; but organizing the event was a struggle because of my motivation: I was trying to prove myself, rather than focusing on what God was doing in our community. Satan tried to force Jesus to prove himself by taunting, “Since you are God’s Son. . .”. But Jesus didn’t take the bait because he didn’t need to prove himself. Jesus knew who he was and what he was to do. He also knew that Satan wanted him to focus on himself rather than on God. Jesus defeated Satan’s scheme by quoting God’s word and glorified God through his obedience. We may feel that we need to prove ourselves, but our job is to point people to God. We don’t need to prove that we are good enough for God. God approves of us and considers us valuable enough to send Christ to earth to die for our sins. God already loves us. Andy Clapp (North Carolina, USA) Thought for the Day: God’s approval can free us from anxious striving. Prayer: Dear God, please help us to remember that we already have your approval. In Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 13:01:11 +0000
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