Dahhh…

This passage is Jesus’s temptation in the desert.  The first temptation is food, which after 40 days of fasting in the desert, would be a natural desire.  For me it would be more like 40 hours, or even 40 minutes =p.  The third temptation is wealth and power, which is a strong temptation for anyone.  The second one to me makes the least sense.  I guess it would be to test our limits.  Now that I think of it, it makes sense though.  I like to test my limits from time to time, usually physically, biking as hard as I can.  I can see how it could be bad testing our limits in dangerous ways though, for example in drinking.

Jesus’ response to all of these temptations is to quote scripture. I guess this passage shows my need to remember scripture to fight temptation.

observations

v4 – john lived a very simple life

v8 – john warns the pharisees and sadducees that they need to produce fruit in keeping with repentance

v9,10 – they are not saved by birthright, those who do not produce fruit will be cut off

thoughts

What does it mean to produce fruit in keeping with repentance?  I guess first it it helps to know what it means to repent.  I like the third definition from the free dictionary online:  To make a change for the better as a result of remorse or contrition for one’s sins. So by definition our life is supposed to be changed for the better as a result of remorse for our sins.

Hmm… not off to a very good start.  It’s been a few days since my last post.  Hopefully I get more consistent soon and get in the groove.

Observations

The one thing that stands out is fulfilling prophecy.  It’s mentioned 4 times in this chapter.  The prophecies are

• Out of Bethlehem – v5-6
• Out of Egypt – v15
• Death of firstborn sons – v17
• a Nazarene – v23

Thoughts

I once heard Josh McDowell speak at a youth rally a few years back.  He went through the list of prophecies that Jesus fulfilled and came up with some ridiculous odds for the chance of someone fulfilling all the prophecies.  Some crazy prophecy like 1 in 150000000000000000… ok I just put a random number of zeros, but still it was a ridiculous number.  Anyways I don’t know if it makes sense to calculate odds like that, but it does make sense that the odds of someone fulfilling all these prophecies are very small– it’s statistically impossible.

a new beginning

I decided that I would start doing my devos online again.  There’s a few reasons— a) I’m online all day at work and a lot of the time at home anyways  b) hopefully this will keep me accountable, cuz I can see my progress    c) it makes it easier to look back on old thoughts, cuz i tend to lose old notebooks/journals d) maybe, just maybe it might help someone else too.

I think the best way to start again would be from the beginning– well the beginning of the new Testament at least…. Conveniently, it’s my favorite gospel.  so here we go, starting with the book of Matthew

observations-

v17- There are 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David -> exile, and 14 from exile -> Christ. If we take the average generation to be about 25 years, that’s a little over 1000 years.

v19- Joseph is a righteous man, looking out for his future wife, as best as he knows how.  He wanted the best for his wife, but sometimes we don’t know what the best is.  He wanted to privately divorce her, so that she would be saved from disgrace.

v21- Jesus is named Jesus because he will save his people from their sins – from Joshua – “the Lord saves”

thoughts

Not much is said about Joseph in the bible, but here we sort of see a glimpse of Joseph’s character.  It’s obvious that he loves Mary and wants the best for her, since he did not want to disgrace her publicly.  So he decides to take matters into his own hands, and divorce her quietly.  I can totally relate–well not to the marriage part, but to the part about wanting to take matters into my own hands. There are times when we take matters into our own hands, not knowing exactly what is best.  Joseph was cool in that as soon as he found out what he was supposed to do, he went and did it.  I guess the application for myself is similar.  If I find out what I am supposed to be doing is different from what I thought I should be doing at first, would I go and do it?  Bleah. Just confused myself.