Luke 4:3 -- On Bread and Stones

"And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread."

Luke 4:3

This temptation of the devil seems to be designed to appeal to Christ's pride.  It didn't work, of course, but I wonder if talking about some of the ways that Christ was tempted can help us see how we are also tempted.  This is a good example.  We all want to matter as individuals.  We want to be strong and good and right.  Unfortunately sometimes this blinds us to our own faults, because we want to be right more than we want to be open to the truth.  We want to be seen as strong more than we want to flee from evil.  Sometimes we want to be more important than God, both to our loved ones, and to God himself when we demand things from him rather than accepting his superior timing.  We even sometimes criticize others, claiming that we can get close to the cliffs of sin without falling over, and if they can't, it must just be a character flaw.  Which is just us trying to justify our own actions.  In truth, strong or weak, we should not be walking dangerous cliff paths to prove we can.  We should flee from sin, and stay as far away from the cliff as we can.  Why knowingly put our souls in jeopardy?

Today, let's work to follow the example of Christ.  Let's not give in to the temptation to place our wills in front of God's, even in extreme circumstances.  Let's look to God in all that we do, and not take shortcuts or try to force our stones into bread.