Matthew 4:4 KJV
[4] But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
The three temptations Jesus suffered are fortunately the most common temptations on earth: the need for food, pride of life, and the love of the world. Yet daily, people fall into them effortlessly, and this has become the devil's greatest weapon in swaying believers. Looking deeply into the temptation associated with hunger, I realized one shocking detail: the devil said "If you're the son of God". Here is a thing to note from the statement. The devil was portraying God as an unloving father and narrowing God's love to food. "If you're the son of God," indirectly saying, "God's child is not supposed to suffer hunger, and since you're hungry, prove that you're his son by making provision for yourself." It wasn't about Jesus turning the bread to stone; it was about diminishing God's love to food.
Image generated using Gemini AI
Jesus, who knew his intentions, answered him saying, "Food isn't man's entire problem, but also what God says about an individual." You may be hungry and suffer lack, but that doesn't mean you have come to the end of the road. God's word is what determines one's future. His love doesn't rest on bread and feasting alone but on his promises for our lives. So when the devil narrowed God's love to food, Jesus answered boldly and said, "No, God's love isn't entirely centered on the food we eat but on his promises for us." Unfortunately, a lot of people have narrowed God's love to their daily bread, and I hear the devil tell them, "If you are truly God's son as you claimed, you weren't supposed to be hungry. If you are truly God's son as people call you, then you're not supposed to lack." The same temptation came to Job. All he had was stripped from him, all to test how he measured God's love—whether by bread or God's promises.
Unfortunately, many believers weigh God's love with bread. When you prosper, God loves you, but when you don't, they directly believe you're either a sinner or God doesn't love you. God's love isn't so cheap that all it focuses on is food. God desires that everyone prosper even as their soul prospers. God isn't just after the food but something more precious: our soul. Many have sold those precious souls to the devil for food. If the devil was willing to give the entire world to Jesus in exchange for his soul, then one should imagine how precious a soul is for the devil to trade all for it. So whenever the devil tests you with food, tell him that God's love is beyond bread, but you rest on his promises that say his plans for us are for good and not evil, to give us an expected end. Everything that happens in our lives is for good because we know God.
