Relationship to Resist the Thing
Whatever it may be for you, maybe "No" isn't enough. Self-control is not suppression. It is formation.
Programming Note: I didn’t plan it this way, but it seems quite fitting that we are ending the calendar year on this particular fruit of the Spirit. In two days, we begin again. This journey will again take us through the totality of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John) in a pinch less than eleven months. But what I have found from this series on the fruit of the Spirit is that sometimes doing things thematically is beneficial. More to come on that.
For now, today’s entry finishes both this series and the calendar year for Jesus Daily. Tomorrow’s entry will be a bit of an introduction for those who may be joining us for the coming year. I’d greatly appreciate if you’d share tomorrow’s post entry. Perhaps you’re a pastor, minister, or priest and your church isn’t on a daily reading plan. Feel free to use this with your congregation. Or perhaps you’re not a pastor and want to invite your partner or family or small group. Regardless of how you might use it, all are invited. My commitment is still to provide this daily.
Also, I’m grateful that just last night, I got the licensing permission to share the song at the end of this post (at the moment of creating this post, Spotify’s servers seem overloaded, so if you can’t see the embedded music at the end of the post, use this link). The Christmas season is still alive (it’s the sixth day today) so give it a listen! This one does not correspond to a fruit, just an overall sense of a gratitude for what we’ve come to know in the Incarnation.
Today’s passage is perhaps the most obvious choice when considering how Jesus displays the fruit of the Spirit that is self-control. His time in the wilderness, resisting the cajoling and testing of the tempter, offers a clear picture of disciplined restraint in faithfulness.
But Jesus goes beyond simply saying, “No.” His strategy is one where he knows the message/Word of God so well that he simply and naturally responds with why he shouldn’t do the thing.
For any human, resisting temptation can be extraordinarily difficult. Both mind and body are susceptible to persuasion—through habit, pressure, desire, trauma, and substance. Some people are more vulnerable than others, and acknowledging this reality matters. These are complicated questions, touching on suffering, freedom, responsibility, and the mystery of God’s deliverance. I don’t ignore that complexity lightly.
But Jesus’ example to us in the wilderness today is that saying, “No,” involves more than the raw will-power of clenched teeth and pure grit. To say what is both obvious and overlooked: Humans are human. Hebrews tells us that God now understands this because of Jesus.
This is what makes Jesus’ use of the Word of God is powerful in responding to temptation. It demonstrates that Jesus doesn’t just rely on “power” to say no, but a relationship with the message of God that runs deep and wide. In this way, self-control is not suppression. It is formation. And it is formation by a daily reliance on grace.
Not to try and twist this to the moment, but this is why I began Jesus Daily several years ago. I felt a deep need to regularly and daily read, pray, and sit with the gospels that tell us who Jesus is and how he lived. While all of scripture matters, I wanted to keep returning to Christ to develop a thick lens through which everything else is understood.
So that’s what we’re still doing. And I’m grateful you continue to join me. It really helps keep me going knowing that others are reading daily with me.
May the Spirit continue to form in us a self-control that is not anxious, doesn’t rely on self will-power, but is grounded in the steady, life-giving Word of God.
Matthew 4:1-11
Then the Spirit led Jesus up into the wilderness so that the devil might tempt him. After Jesus had fasted for forty days and forty nights, he was starving. The tempter came to him and said, “Since you are God’s Son, command these stones to become bread.”
Jesus replied, “It’s written, People won’t live only by bread, but by every word spoken by God.”
After that the devil brought him into the holy city and stood him at the highest point of the temple. He said to him, “Since you are God’s Son, throw yourself down; for it is written, I will command my angels concerning you, and they will take you up in their hands so that you won’t hit your foot on a stone.”
Jesus replied, “Again it’s written, Don’t test the Lord your God.”
Then the devil brought him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. He said, “I’ll give you all these if you bow down and worship me.”
Jesus responded, “Go away, Satan, because it’s written,You will worship the Lord your God and serve only him.” The devil left him, and angels came and took care of him.
Prayer
God,
Thank you for the Word. Thank you for the Word that is written in these scriptures, for the honest and faithful witness of so many who wrote originally and so many more who have maintained and passed on these writings.
But thank you all the more for the Word that is Jesus. I continue to desire to do this because of his person. I am drawn to him through the sacrificial love his life and teachings espouse. So,
Holy Father of all creation, I see your loving justice in Jesus of Nazareth. By your Spirit, make me more like him.
Amen.