A New Devotion - The Great Deceiver

Here's a new devotion that I wrote. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page.

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

The Great Deceiver

Personally, I think people give the devil too much credit and assume he has far too much power. I mean, a lot of folk see him as the source of evil, and they sound as though he can bend people to his will. Of course, this may be product of seeing too many horror movies, films where Satan is so strong that without some important friends upstairs, the hero is doomed to failure and damnation.

And even though this image of the devil might result in nightmares, it’s also pretty advantageous for us. In a very real sense, it frees us from ever being accountable for our mistakes. For example, not only do we look pretty good by comparison, we can always blame our faults and failings on Satan. Like Geraldine used to say, we can claim that “the devil made us do it;” therefore, we’re not responsibility. I mean, it doesn’t take much creativity to shrug our shoulders and say that the devil prevents us from being patient and kind. And he forces us to be envious and boastful, arrogant and rude. And because of him, naturally we insist on our own way, and we’re irritable and resentful. You see, the devil can serve as the perfect scapegoat, allowing us to evade responsibility for all those things we’ve done and left undone.

But that’s not the same devil who tempted Jesus in the wilderness. Instead of being this nearly omnipotent evil force, the one who confronted Christ was a lot more like a slimy con man, who uses lies and half-truths that play on our weaknesses and fears and that convince us to turn from God to self. You see, the devil really is the Great Deceiver, which means we have it in our power to say “no” to the snake oil he’s selling.