Jesus was very hungry at the end of a long period of fasting and praying in the wilderness. He was preparing Himself to face up to Satan. The first evil suggestion was for Jesus to doubt His own identity - "If you are the Son of God …". But Jesus knew who He was: He fully understood that He was the Son of Father God when He was 12 years old (Luke 2:41-50). And more recently the Father's voice confirmed it (Matthew 3:17). And yet Satan dared to try to make Him doubt, and persuade Him that He needed to prove Himself.

The devil recommended that Jesus should relieve His hunger by commanding the stones to change their chemical structure and composition, to become bread to eat. Of course Jesus could have done so: on other occasions He changed water into wine and raised the dead to life. But this suggestion was not from God. It was Satan's way of getting Jesus to rebel against His Father's will and taking authority over Jesus Christ's life. But Jesus resisted, and accepted the written Word of God from Deuteronomy 8:3 as His authority.

Life is more than survival and contentment is more than bodily satisfaction. Life has a purpose, and if God's Word is not at the centre of life, our existence becomes meaningless. Jesus knew that meeting His physical needs through Satan's suggestion would destroy the purpose for which Father God has sent Him into the world. He knew that only God's Word had the right to command Him. Jesus's heart and mind were determined to do the Father's will only, and He rejected all other suggestions (Matthew 26:39-42).

People influence us because we allow their words or example to have authority in our lives to shape our destiny. That is our choice. And every choice excludes other choices. Like Jesus, we have those exclusive choices to make every day. Although some decisions may appear to be more or less significant, they are all opportunities to tell the Lord that we only want to accept His authority and are willing to follow it through with godly behaviour. When our choice does not agree with God's Word, we need to repent and change. When it is a godly decision, we need to stand firm. So today is another day to practise accepting God’s Word and rejecting the devil’s lies.