The final test of Jesus Christ’s commitment to His Father’s will took place on Calvary. “Come down from the cross” (Matthew 27:40) was a challenge uttered by chief priests, soldiers, and people; but behind it was the deceiver himself. Having failed to entice Jesus through His body, ego, and mind, Satan tried to break His will by means of His emotions.
The emotional strain of the cross was staggering. The chief ingredient was abandonment. The abandonment of Jesus was complete—people, disciples, and even (though only for a brief time) His Father. At the point when His emotions were at their strained peak, Satan whispered to Him, “Everyone’s against You; what’s the use? You’ve taken enough; end all this business by a quick stroke of power and come down from that throne of pain. Why should You suffer anymore?”
That was the most deceitful of all Satan’s tactics, for then he was in the role of sympathizer, reliever, and deliverer. How often Satan’s temptations come in the guise of deliverance! How quickly he can break our will by leading us to self-pity. But Jesus saw through the trickery; He realized He could not spare Himself and still save others. He refused to abandon His commitment; He would not renege on His Father’s will, and, so He triumphed.
I must realize that I am always vulnerable emotionally to Satan. Yet my victory is not to shore up my emotions but to shore up my will. Emotions will fluctuate; but if my commitment to God is firm, they will stay in balance.
Lord, help me not to be distracted by my fluctuating emotional curve. The apostle Peter encourages me: “Through Him you have confidence in God … so that your faith and hope might rest in God” (1 Peter 1:21, author’s trans.).
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses” (2 Corinthians 10:3–4).
Daily with the King 