Random Thoughts While Reading

 Reading Matthew 4:8-10 today. Satan takes Jesus to a high mountain and says that if Jesus will worship Satan, he will give Jesus "all these things". In Luke 4, about the same incident, we are told that Satan claims he has been given the power to do this. I think sometime we believe that certain people have been given power to do things that they actually do not have. And we end up putting our trust and faith in them rather than trusting and maintaining our focus on Jesus. In our world today, for example, many people who claim to be Christians express the belief that President Trump has been chosen by God to bring about positive change in our country. They seem to thing that God has given him power to do things that they think need to be done. They then focus on the president as a person to make things happen in the way they think is right. Actually, only God/Christ has the power to cause change in the hearts and minds of men and we should be focusing our energy, hearts and m...

 I am reading Matthew 4 today about the temptations of Christ in the desert after He was baptized. I verse 3 the "tempter" told him, if you are the Son of God turn these stones into bread". Why was this a temptation? Jesus was hungry and he had the power to turn stones into bread (or anything else), there would be no harm to anyone if he did, so why was it a temptation? What would have been wrong if he had turned stones into bread? And how does it apply to us in our daily life? There seem to be several possible reasons it was a temptation and several ways we can apply it to our lives today. 1. Just because something is not bad or wrong does not mean it is right or best. 2. By getting something to eat when he was supposed to be fasting, he would have been distracted from his task. 3. The devil was the one who commanded him to make the stones into bread and he should not be listening to the devil for instructions. 4. By getting something to eat he would have shown more int...