Wednesday, February 21

Matthew 4:1-11

During our Lenten devotional, we are looking at the topics - Worth Dying For and Sacrifice. I looked up what sacrifice means in Webster: 1. an act of offering to a deity something precious, 2. destruction or surrender of something for the sake of something else. I was surprised it didn’t have more definitions, but the ones they gave tell us what it means to sacrifice.

When Jesus began His ministry, He always had us in mind. We are “the worth dying for,” and as we know, it cost Jesus His life, the greatest sacrifice ever made. His sacrifice didn’t start when He was hanging on that old wooden cross, it started when He started His ministry. The attack from Satan was one of the first things He faced as He carried out His Father’s will for His life. He went into the desert to pray and seek His Father’s will for 40 days and nights. And as He finished that time, Satan came along and tried to attack Jesus’ weaknesses. He was tired, He was thirsty and hungry, and He was weak physically too after sacrificing those 40 days of fasting. But because Jesus prayed and He read the Bible, and He knew what it said, He could fight off Satan’s attacks and set an example for us.

During this Lenten season, is God asking you to sacrifice something in your life for Him?

Are we following Jesus’ example of reading our Bible and knowing what is says so we can fight off the tempter?

And as we read His Word, it will guide us into the things we should be doing to

help carry out the kingdom’s work. I am glad that Jesus thought we were worth dying for, and He made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us.

Psalm 100:5, “For the Lord is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations.” And His sacrifice is good forever!

Brad Hankey