The Submissive Soul

In Matthew Mondays, we’ve been looking at the temptation of Christ and how Jesus was tempted in all the ways we are within the trinity of man: body, spirit, and soul as per Hebrews 4:15 and 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

In the previous weeks we’ve looked at how Satan tempted Christ in body and how Satan tempted Christ in spirit.  This week we’re going to look at how Satan tempted Christ in soul.

The soul of a human being is the seat of the mind, will, and emotions.  And while temptations affecting the body are often about survival and comfort and temptations affecting spirit are often about the supernatural, temptations that lure our soul are all about control.

Let’s look at how the temptation plays out:

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.

"All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." (Matthew 4:8-9)

Satan’s offer is to give Jesus control of the whole world in exchange for worshiping him instead of God, basically submitting to Satan rather than God. 

This is the last and perhaps the greatest of the temptations.  It’s easy to empathize with the first temptation.  We all get hungry.  We all want to live comfortably.  Only a crazy person says, “boy, I’d sure like to experience some pain and suffering today.”  The second temptation of the spirit is easy to understand too.  Who doesn’t want to see something miraculous?  Ask any atheist what it would take to convince them that God exists, and they’ll give you some impossible sign for proof.

The last one is a bit more subversive because it is a temptation that we rarely recognize as such.  It’s the temptation of free will.  Will we submit to God every moment of every day, or will we pursue our own agendas and try to control our own lives?  Will we be driven by our own desires, swayed by flippant emotions, or led by our own understandings, or will we seek God’s desires, God’s emotions, and God’s understanding, and let these be what guide our path.

What makes this particular temptation so hard is that sometimes we know what God wants, but we think we can speed up His process and do things on our own.  That’s what Satan is tempting Jesus with in this example.

Ultimately the submission and obedience of our body, soul, and spirit to the Almighty God are what worship is all about, which is why Jesus responds to Satan the way He does:

Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"  (Matthew 4:10)

God's Glory Alone

I started this blog back in 2007, with a post called When God Shows Up.  Since then I have written 100 posts, attracted about 2,000 page views a month, and have publishers dumping books, videos, and video games on me asking for reviews.  It seems to be a success in every way except the reason I started it in the first place.

When I reread these words in that first post, despite all that has happened in my life and how much I’ve grown as a Christian, I find not much has changed:

We're like autistic children; too much stimulus and we start screaming and run away. There have been times in my relationship with God, that He has moved beyond typical interactions, and I've felt His presence physically touching me; I've heard His voice in more audible tones. Every time I've approached this intimate relationship with God, I've pulled back, and yet it is the type of relationship I desire most. It is this simultaneous desire and hesitancy that creates a constant struggle in my life. When I sin, it is usually a direct result of this struggle. I start to get too close to God and pull back and do something to purposely push Him away. Those of you who know my whole testimony are probably thinking this sounds very familiar, you'd be right. However, unlike the last time, I'm taking a stand right here, right now, to press on in this relationship God desires from me, and overcome the desire to run.”

In fact rather than getting rid of the desire to run, I think I’ve just come to understand why it’s there the more I’ve come to know God.  I had one experience just after writing this post all those years ago that provides a good example of why. 

I had just finished reading Exodus 33-34, about Moses asking God to show him His glory.  And so I began to seek the Lord because I wanted to see His glory too.  I foolishly prayed out to God, “I don’t care if it kills me; I want to know all of your glory!”

I’ve read some commentaries and heard some pastors say that when Solomon says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10) and when Jesus says, “fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28) that they just mean be in awe of God.  There aren’t enough synonyms in any thesaurus for "foolishness" to begin to describe the stupidity of this idea. 

Did Jesus tell John, “do not be in awe” in Revelation 1:17?  No, He said “do not be afraid.”  Why?

I found out on that day.   As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I felt a weight drop on me, and I fell on my face like a dead man.  And God’s glory covered me, and like the shepherds in the field that first Christmas night, I was sore afraid.  I thought I was going to die, and I could feel that God was holding back, a lot.  For hours I lay under the weight of His presence, until I managed to whisper, “please stop, I think I’m going to die.”

His presence lifted, and I pulled myself to a fetal position and bemoaned my unworthiness with a wrenching weeping, while God’s Spirit comforted me.

The experience humbled me and gave me a better understanding of this God I’m seeking to know.  He is not a big, lovable grandpa in the sky.  He is God.  He loves us enough to send His Son to die in our stead so that we can stand before Him in the Day of Judgment and not be destroyed.  But in the mean time He loves us enough to keep us at a distance lest we see His face and die. 

Yet that is my desire still, to press in to see His face no matter what the cost, so I die daily that I might be resurrected and behold His glory, but I do so in a proper understanding of whose glory it is that I’m seeking.

So, wherever this blog goes over the next 100 posts, however many readers there are, may it always be for His glory alone because God alone is worthy.

Why are Christians so Power Hungry?

There are a few different types of power hungry Christians that I’ve met over the years.  There are the Dominion groups, both conservative and charismatic, who want to take over the world for Christ the king, either politically, socially, or spiritually.  There are the signs and wonders groups that want to call down fire from heaven anytime they should so desire.  There are the legalists who like to rule over their followers through condemnation.  And there are the traditionalists and denominationalists that set up hierarchies of power to maintain proper distance between individuals and God.

The thing is all of these groups have taken elements that Jesus taught and built man-made traditions around them.   But the kind of power a Christian should seek can never be found in man-made traditions. 

Jesus once told the disciples, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." (Luke 10:19-20)

Jesus also said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

If you want to know power, seek to know God.  He doesn’t need your help to bring His kingdom to earth, He doesn’t need your help to perform signs and wonders, He doesn’t need your help to convict sinners, and He doesn’t need your help as mediators when dealing with people. 

But when you know Him, when you speak to Him and He speaks back, when you submit to Him and obey His commandments, when you love Him with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might, He will endow you with power from on high to accomplish His will on Earth, which might include all those things mentioned above.

The point is don’t start out thinking you know what’s best when it comes to wielding God’s power.  You are not a superhero out to save the day.  Don’t pray, “God give me the ability to do ‘x, y, or z’.” Rather, seek God’s face because He’s God.  Get to know the One who gives and takes away.  Pray, “God I want to do whatever you want me to do today.  I’m totally submitted to You because I love You.” Serve Him in your weakest moments just as lovingly and confidently as in the moments where it seems like all of heaven is at your beck and call, not because of anything He can do for you, but because of Who He Is:

The I Am, The Beginning and the End, the Creator, the Almighty One, Savior, Deliverer, Provider, Healer, the Jealous One, Merciful and Just, Father, Bridegroom, Brother, Friend . . . Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty who was, and is, and is to come!