Christ Third Temptation: Earthly Power

Mat 4:10 "Begone, Satan! for it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'"

In response to being offered all the wealth and power in the world, Christ tells us that our purpose in life is simply serving God's plan for us. In the context here, there is an interesting parrallel between worshipping Satan and worshipping earthly wealth and power, but, when taken out of that context, Christ words don't concern themselves with that issue. His view is simple. Our testing is over when we come to realize that only God is worthy of homage (and fear, from the original phrase in Deuteronomy) and we should only serve God.

Of course, the challenge with obeying Christ's words here is knowing how we best serve God, that is, knowing what God's mission is for us personally. However, when we take this idea with Christ answer to the two other trials, we do know something important about God's mission for us. First, we must seek our personal fulfillment by serving our spiritual needs rather than our physical needs. Second, we cannot expect any certainty or proof in divine matters. This leads us finally to simply honoring God by doing our best to serve Him. As a matter of fact, an important element in this trial is that we cannot be certain.

Why is our uncertainty important? Look at the evil done by those who are certain of what God wants of them. Absolutism is dangerous because our certainty about God's mission for us can be used to justify any evil.

Often when I pray the Lord's Prayer, I see in the words "Hallowed be thy name" are clear warning that we can never do evil in the name of God, indeed, that the greatest sin is doing evil under the guise of following God's will.

It is interesting that this particular challenge is ties with the temptation of earthly power because it seems like those most willing to do evil in God's name are those who are seeking early power and more concerned with politics than with God.

An interesting test for any person who claims to be representing God is seeing how actively they seek earthly wealth and power. By definition, such a person has failed the third test. Similarly a person that seeks physical gratification has failed the first test. A person who seeks proof and certainty in life fails the second test.