Blind Spots, Weaknesses and Wal-Mart

Has your kid ever sneaked something into your grocery cart, or are mine the only ones who try that stunt? My children know that I’m easily distracted, and one time I took Erin with me to purgatory (AKA Wal-Mart) for the big monthly shopping event. I was teaching her to comparison shop, how to buy quality items and buy the things that are needed to keep our home running. Apparently I wasn’t paying attention when she sneaked something into our buggy, and since she was the one unloading the buggy onto the belt to be scanned, I didn’t catch it then. Nope. I didn’t catch it until we were unloading the bags at home and came across it. What she didn’t expect was that I would make her pay for it. We all have blind spots and weaknesses and if our children know where they are, don’t you know that Satan does too?


So Jesus was led by the Spirit to the desert. The Spirit did not lead Jesus to sin. Jesus had a choice, and so do you. In my last blog I covered the first way the devil tempted Jesus. Today, I want you to read Luke 4:5, the first four or five words and contrast them to verse 1. My daddy says, “Sin will take your further than you intended to go, keep you longer than you planned to stay, and cost you far more than you ever wanted to pay.” The devil led Jesus to the temptation. Keep in mind Jesus is deity and was full of the Spirit when he was tempted by the devil. He was equipped to battle temptation. Are you equipped? Are you full of the Spirit? Is the Word hidden in your heart? Satan’s not going to tempt you to go to a bar if that’s not your thing, but if your thing is over-spending, guess where you are going to find yourself? E-bay, Amazon, Etsy, or an outlet mall. If it’s over-eating, guess where you will find yourself? The grocery store, watching the food network, diners, stashing secret food. (I hide my chocolate in the cleaning supplies. It’s the safest place in my house.) If your weakness is gossiping, guess where you will find yourself? In the middle of a hen party, in the middle of someone else’s drama. (CUT THAT OUT!) Do you get the picture? Satan will lead you to the place where you are the most vulnerable. Snap out of it. Wake up. Get out!

In Luke’s version of the temptation, the devil led Jesus to a high place and showed Jesus all of the kingdoms. We don’t know that the devil didn’t show Jesus all the kingdoms to come or if it was just the current ones he could see. The devil tells Jesus he can give these kingdoms to anyone, and he’ll give them to Jesus if he will just bow down and worship him. I believe that the devil knew that Jesus was there to save those who were lost. I believe that the devil knew that Jesus was willing to die for them, but how far was Jesus willing to go?

• First off, when has the devil ever been a being of his word? You know just as well as I do that the devil had no great design on giving Jesus those kingdoms. You know that right?

• Once again, Jesus didn’t think. He quoted Scripture. This is a situation that many would try to reason this temptation out, but there is no reasoning with sin. Sin is sin. Get your head out of the sand.

• I wonder what the ramifications would be if Jesus were to bow. Obviously he couldn’t because it goes against everything of who he is as Lord and Savior. But I just wonder…there’d be no victory over sin. No victory over death. No final victory in the end. How dark this world would be without the hope of victory.

For Jesus the bottom line was this, “Worship the Lord your God and serve him only” (Deut 6:13). Are you teaching your children these things? Are you or have you learned these things?

When you are tempted, always remember there are strings attached. IF…THEN. There’s always a THEN.

“You never receive only what you sow as a seed of sin. You will receive from your sinful deed a negative consequence, with compounding interest.”

“Sin’s price is not cheap. God’s mercy is priceless.”