The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1949-01-27
The Devil Is Smart

where Satan waited for him.
The Devil Is Smart
CATAN is a persistent devil. He
- never takes No for an answer,
he will be back again with the
same temptation in another pack
age. It was so with Jesus. We must
not think that Jesus was tempted
to low and ugly sins. People are
tempted on the level where they
live.
After the Baptism, II not be-
fore, he was fully awake 10 the
fact that he was Gods beloved
Son, that it was his respon-
sibility to begin the Kingdom I.
Of God" he knew he had .
position and . power that NO
one else ON earth had ever had.
The problem was: How should
he use this position and this !
power? :
Each of the three temptations IN
the wilderness had something to
do with that problem. Two Of the
temptations, at least, were not to
do anything wrong in itself Each
time Jesus was tempted to choose
something less than the best. And
choosing less than the best when
the best can be had, is sin.
ALI Temptation Sounds Good
HTURN stones into bread" the
1 tempter said. And why not?
People were hungry all around;
Jesus grew UP in a land where
most people were lucky 10 get one
square meal day, let alone three.
Jesus would be the Divine Leader
o. the Kingdom, the Founder OF
the New Age. Why not make it the
Age of Pienty2 Why not abolish
hunger from the eartli? It could
be done: it sounds good.
So does that othe- .empta-
ton Throw yourself down,
the ANGELS will see that you ara
not hut" Perhaps many wor-
shippers at the Temple expect
ed that the Messiah, Gods
King 70 be, would fly down cut
Of a cloud.
Then that temptation which
seems at first reading SO ridicu-
lous-faH down and worship Satan.
It was not so ridiculous as it APP
pears. What did Jesus want but to
be King Of Kings and Lord Of
Lordsr What difference does 1t
make how we attain u ambitions,
II we only reach themf Ar other
world : conquerOrs had achieved
thar pinnacles Of power by ''wor-
shipping SATAN" that is by using
violence and trickery.
But Jesus, being fun Il the
Holy Spirit, knew that not
everything that sounds good. II
good.
He saw clearly that not even he
could bring in the Kingdom Of God
simply by feeding people, or a.
tonishing them with aerial stunts.
and still less by using those ancient
methods Of the world-conquerors,
the tools of Satan, violence and lies.
Defense Weapon
JESUS met his great enemy and
y beat him down with a single
weapon. Every time, Jesus comes
out with a quotation from the Bible,
incidentally always from Deuter'
onomy, evidently a favorite book
with him. We have the same wea-
pom at our disposal today, and more
besides.
There is nothing magical in a
Scripture quotation. The point
is not that Jesus had m
lied these verses SO hat he
could quote them; anybody
could do that even without be-
Heving a word of them.
What Jesus did was to make
those truths his own, they were par
of his mind, actually his own con
v~ictions. Do you really want to rise
proof against temptations? Do a!
Jesus did: make Gods ideas you
own. The sharpest lie will blum
itself against the keen edge O
Truth.
copyright by the International Council
Of Religious Education on behalf of n
Protestant denominations. Released b.
Wku FeatHFeS.J
full and economical management
is necessary to keep him out o.