Matthew 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Even Jesus had to be prepared for His ministry, and experiencing and resisting major temptation was a major part of that. There are some fanciful tales of Jesus performing miracles as a little child, but I don’t give credence to any of those. If Jesus hadn’t encountered difficulties of various sorts, such as we all do throughout our lives, He would not have participated fully in our condition. As it says in Hebrews, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) Like us, Jesus had to be tempered by life on this earth, and He became the perfect tool for God to work salvation for mankind. That’s why He could say so clearly, “In this world you will have trouble.” (John 16:33) We don’t experience temptations quite as severe as Jesus did in the wilderness just before this, but we do experience the same kind of temptations. Like Him, we are tempted to prioritize our physical bodies over obedience to God. That’s a big one for most people! We are likewise tempted to do things just to attract attention to us, and we are also tempted to give our allegiance to things other than God. (In the final analysis, all of those things will turn out to be fronts for the devil.) It is in encountering and overcoming those temptations that we are grown and tempered and prepared to be fully useful to God for the tasks for which He created us, and we should be grateful.

I realize that everything I have experienced in my 76 years so far has prepared me for what God has for me today, and today will in turn prepare me for what tomorrow holds. Sometimes I feel unprepared for what I encounter, but to the degree that might be true, it indicates that I haven’t made full use of the training God has provided for me, and even more, that I’m not trusting Him fully. I need to remember that, as Jude wrote, God “is able to keep [me] from stumbling and to present [me] before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.” (Jude 1:24) And Jude knew that from experience, because he was Jesus’ little brother! As the song says, “I know who holds the future, and I know who hold my hand.” I indeed don’t know about tomorrow, but I know that my God knows, and He has prepared me, and will prepare me, for everything I will encounter.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You that today is Cathy’s birthday. I pray that I would fulfill all of Your plans for me today for her sake, as You have prepared me to do, so that You may receive all the glory. Thank You. Praise God!