Be The Word Of God

𝐅𝐄𝐁. 𝟐𝟐, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔: 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐓

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝟐:𝟕-𝟗; 𝟑:𝟏-𝟕

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟓𝟏:𝟑-𝟔, 𝟏𝟐-𝟏𝟑, 𝟏𝟕 “𝐁𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥, 𝐎 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐝.”

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟐: 𝐑𝐨𝐦 𝟓:𝟏𝟐-𝟏𝟗

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝟒:𝟏-𝟏𝟏

𝐊𝐞𝐲 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞: “𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐆𝐨𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲.” (𝐯.𝟏𝟎) 

         What many people do not know is how the Gospel can become a personal lighthouse that provides us with a guide to show us the way when our view is obscured in darkness.

         Just like in this gospel passage on this First Sunday of Lent that we read in 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝟒:𝟏-𝟏𝟏 which shows us how Jesus was tempted by the devil and how he was able to overcome temptation.

         What is this gospel passage telling us? Remember 𝐉𝐧 𝟖:𝟏𝟐 when Jesus said: “𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐉𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦, 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠, “𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐖𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐬 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.” Jesus is no longer with us. But what we have is his undying and eternal Word that fills the pages of the Sacred Scripture. And Jesus who is the light of the world remains as the light through His Word so that everyone who is lost can find his way.

         In a particular way I can easily identify myself with someone who is lost as I too was lost and had been lost not just once but countless times. I stumbled many times and each time I was able to pick myself up repeatedly.

         But this was like a roller coaster ride for me as I soon found myself crawling on the ground again the moment I got up. Honestly, I grew up in a Catholic environment, and I've gotten tired with this on-and-off relationship with the world and my faith.

         The door to salvation was opened for me in 1989 when our Lord Jesus Christ found me and brought me to the renewal through a Catholic charismatic community. It was here that I was introduced to the reality that I can truly have a personal relationship with God.   

         With my faith renewed and restored, the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that God is not someone up there and I am down here. Since God is Omnipresent and Omniscient, it means that God is everywhere and in every circumstance of my life. He was there when the sun shone brightly in my life.

         But He was there even more during the times I found myself grappling with difficulties and frustration. I now believe that it was God who helped me and picked me up when I was down so that I can find my way again and my purpose in life.

         This brings me to the Gospel passage today as we usher in the First Sunday of Lent. What is the Holy Spirit trying to tell us in this story? Are you aware of the ‘temptations’ that caused trouble for you in the past or even in the here and now.

         Do you find wisdom and guidance in the Scripture to help you cope with the difficulties in your life? As we all step deeper into the Season of Lent, I believe that God wants you and me to consider where Jesus found inspiration and guidance throughout his life.

         At his baptism by John, Jesus had heard the voice of God the Father identifying him, a young village handyman, as his beloved Son. Here he reflects on the challenges of this radically new mission, human temptations that we all experience.

         This leads me to ask, haven't we experienced temptation in our life? Like Jesus in the gospel, I'm sure some of us have been tempted to selfishness, to put our personal needs first? Do we want to attract notice, to be popular, to be a celebrity? A sense of power can indeed be intoxicating.

         Do we want to be influential, to dominate others, rather than serve them, be kind and generous to those who are in need? These are questions that we as a Christian must address. Otherwise, all that we are doing now will be for nothing if these will not be offered for the greater glory of God.

        This is why in this world drowning in temptation, we need to get hold of ourselves and in our solitude we can a draw up an action plan to fight temptation. We all must exercise control over this! There are a few practical tips to help some of us defend ourselves against the most common temptations. Let me enumerate some of these steps we can take to avoid temptation.

1. If you don’t want to commit adultery, then avoid that business lunch with your secretary.

2. If you don’t want to commit the sin of fornication, make sure you stay away from the lover’s lanes.

3. If you don’t want to drink, stay away from people who do and places where they do. Throw away your cigarettes and avoid smokers.

4. If you don’t want to lust, throw away that Playboy magazine under your mattress and avoid the R and X-rated movies.

5. If you don’t want to gossip, don’t allow your conversation to degenerate. Control your tongue.

          There is a saying that we probably can carve into our minds and thoughts. It says:

“Run like crazy” and you’ll be glad you did. This is more than just home-spun humor, it is godly wisdom.

           Some years back we heard people who fall into sin say: "The Devil made me do it." Many of us grew up hearing that catchphrase, and its affected the way we see the devil. Some of us have given the devil too much credit for what happens to us. We believe he has the power to "make" us do things.

           But is that how temptation works? Is the devil equally as powerful as God? Can he "make" us do anything we don't want to do? The short answer is no. Jesus made it clear that the One who is in us is greater than the one that is in the world (𝟏 𝐉𝐨𝐡𝐧 𝟒:𝟒). The truth is, the devil doesn't have any power over us UNLESS we give him power over us.

But he can be persuasive. And the closer we are walking with God, the harder he will work to get us off track. Just look at Jesus. He just came from being baptized and anointed by the Holy Spirit. And that's when the devil started to tempt Him.

We know from Hebrews that Jesus experienced every temptation we face, yet He never sinned (𝐇𝐞𝐛 𝟒:𝟏𝟓). How did He do it? What can we learn from Him?

The answer is right there in today’s Gospel passage in 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝟒:𝟏-𝟏𝟏. Jesus responded to all three of the devil's temptations with Scripture. Notice that Jesus didn't say, "Hold on a minute, Devil, while I look up this verse." He had God's Word hidden in His heart, so that He wouldn't sin against God (𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦 𝟏𝟏𝟗:𝟏𝟏).

As Christ followers, we need to be in God's Word every day, not just pulling the Bible off the shelf "in case of emergency." When Paul described the armor of God in his letter to the church in Ephesus, he called the Word of God the "sword of the Spirit" (𝐄𝐩𝐡. 𝟔:𝟏𝟕).

It is the only offensive weapon in the entire arsenal. And don't miss the purpose for the full armor of God in the first place. Eph 6:11 says it is so that "you can take your stand against the devil's schemes."

Let me close by saying that temptations will always be a part of life. The difference between then and now is that we can depend on the Light of the Word to give us the strength to overcome these temptations and keep us away from sinning.

As we go through the Lenten Season, we can probably decide to change our priorities by our habitual reading and reflecting on the Word of God so that others can see the Light of Christ through us.

Lent is also a period of meditation and one of the things that is being asked of us is for us  to reconcile with those who hurt us and whom we may have hurt. For it is when we reconcile with our neighbor that we can truly express and abide by our obedience to Christ.

A famous spiritual leader once said: "𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘧𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳." Have you allowed any temptations to settle into your thought life? If so, begin to work this week on destroying their nests.

        This brings us to the main message in today’s Gospel – 𝒊𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒖𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. 𝑯𝒐𝒘? 𝑩𝒚 𝒔𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘍𝘦𝘣. 22, 2026)