Find Hope: Matthew 1-4Sample

First Speaker for the Affirmative

When I was younger, I used to take part in debates at school. Apparently, I had a gift for arguing. The art of debating is being able to be convincing even when you are arguing for a point that is clearly untrue or that you yourself are not convinced of.

It is possible to be the most convincing even if what you are arguing for won't actually stand up to scrutiny. I remember arguing in one debate that healthy school lunches tasted better than takeaway. My life was and is a living demonstration that I hold an alternative view, but in that moment, I was able to convince a group of adjudicators that healthy lunches tasted better.

We live in a cultural moment that values rhetoric highly; how convincing you can be matters more than objective or demonstrated facts. We are playing on Satan's home turf. From the Garden of Eden, to Jesus in the wilderness, to your life now, Satan is seeking to convince you of what is demonstrably untrue—that God doesn't love you, that God isn't good, that he can't be trusted, and that he is not in control. He is stuck on the side of lies and untruth and relies on his cleverness. He tempts us when we are already susceptible to doubting God—when we are hungry, when we are tired, when we are anxious, when we are lonely. He whispers lies and half-truths like, "Did God actually say?" or "Is God's way actually what's best for you?"

The irony of it all is he tempts us with things God already provides. He says to Jesus, "If you are the Son of God..." Just a few verses earlier, God has said with a voice from heaven, "This is my beloved Son!" Jesus already has the affirmation of his identity directly from the source, but Satan tries to make him doubt what God has already said and done.

When we are tempted, like Jesus, we need to look back to what God has already done. For us, this includes Jesus' death and resurrection—the Father paying the highest cost to show us love and mercy while we were still sinners. As Paul says in Romans 8:32, "How will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"

Temptation is a fight for truth. Jesus is better. So when Satan tries to convince you otherwise, look again to Jesus in whom God has provided abundantly for all our needs.

Today, ponder this: Where are you feeling Satan whispering to you, "Is God really good and loving and in control?" Ask God to show you how Jesus meets that need in your life. Ask some Christian brothers and sisters to help you see how the gospel is true in that circumstance, and the truth shall set you free.