God and God Alone

Tuesday - August 3rd

Scripture to Read Today: Luke 4:1-13

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"You must worship the LORD your God

and serve only him."

-Jesus

Luke 4:8

It's just like Satan to attack Jesus when he has been fasting and focusing on His Father's mission for His life and ministry. Satan will use anything and everything to thwart the redemptive plan of God. He did all He could do to stop Jesus from becoming our substitutionary sacrifice. Now that Christ completed all that is required for us to be redeemed, Satan works hard to keep people in their spiritual blindness.

In Luke 4, we have the story of Satan tempting Jesus. He wanted Jesus to sin. He wanted Jesus to fail in His mission to provide the way of salvation for us. In the great temptation of Christ, Satan taunted Jesus to bow down to Him. If Jesus would do this, the devil assured Him that he would step out of Jesus' way. He would stop trying to thwart all that Christ was doing. Satan simply says, "If you worship me, it will all be yours" (verse 7).

How ridiculous! God the Son, the creator and sustainer of all the universe, bowing down to Him! How ridiculous! Jesus responds by quoting an Old Testament Scripture that clarifies we are to worship and serve only one - God Himself. We are not to worship or serve any other entity! In refusing to bow down to Satan and ultimately not falling to temptation, Jesus said in Luke 4:8, "You must worship the LORD your God and serve only Him!"

That is clarity! Lots of things in this world compete for our affection and even our worship. Lots of stuff seeks to have the highest priority and place in our lives. Satan wants us to worship something or someone other than God. It doesn't have to be Satan. It doesn't have to be something bad or evil. He just wants us to worship something other than our Lord.

Hear the words of Jesus! "You must worship the LORD your God and serve only Him." Has something or someone become your highest priority or your greatest focus rather than God? If so, confess that to the Lord. Repent. Turn from it and again make the Lord your highest priority. Worship Him!

Since Satan wants us to worship anything or anyone other than the Lord, we need to guard our hearts and minds. We cannot let anything distract or hinder that kind of worship!

Worship God, and God alone!