Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them – not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. (1 Pet. 5:2-4)

As two candidates vie very publicly to take up residence in the White House, I have found myself dwelling on the temptations of Christ, in which the devil stole alongside Jesus, determined to lead Him into seeking all the trappings of both unauthorised spiritual power (by turning stones into bread and throwing himself off the pinnacle of the temple) and all worldly power.

This, of course, is all in keeping with Lucifer being the great Usurper, who seized dominion over the Earth from Adam and established himself as the ‘god of this world’ – a title which Jesus nowhere denies but never bows down to. (John 14:28-31)

In Isaiah 14:12-17 Ezekiel 28:13-17 we see two very clear allegories and reflections of Lucifer’s attempts to ascend even to the very throne of God. Given that his heart is full of such pride, therefore, it is no surprise to find him tempting Jesus to bow down and adore him – which would have resulted in Him becoming like him in his haughty self-centredness, and consumed with that same endlessly covetous desire to accumulate all power to Himself.

History teaches us that those who are determined to take all a nation’s power to themselves (to say nothing of those who seek power over the whole earth, as a succession of antichrist-rulers have attempted through the ages) invariably end up as dictators, who exploit and manipulate people in their bid to retain power in the face of multiple pressures and challenges.

Not dissimilar, either, are the pressures that assail those who would be master of their own churches or organisations too, unless they be filled with that servant heart which is the only kind of leadership style that the New Testament actually endorses. Jesus understood immediately the trajectory of satan’s offer, and refused to have anything to do with it. Having prevailed over the temptation, He was later able to announce the astonishing truth that it will be not authoritarian ‘strongmen’ who will inherit the earth but the meek.

Once people reach a place of fame and riches, and all the rest we associate with power and human greatness, there is potential to use it either to bless, or to oppress. The wind blows higher at altitude, and such people become the special targets of the enemy. He seizes the opportunity to draw them into reflecting his own black pride, vanity, and even his cruelty. He tried this with Jesus, wanting to make Him dizzy with greatness, and to prove Himself special before the world, compelling it to see how unique He was by a stunning but meaningless stunt involving throwing Himself down from the temple heights
But for all his efforts the devil could find nothing, literally nothing, in Jesus that would hook into a desire for personal greatness. Jesus knew His true eternal standing, and firmly resisted any attempt to parade His giftings in any way other than at His Father’s bidding.

As those in power parade their fineries, hawk their promises and award their favours, Jesus would later lament, ‘Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me!” (John 8:43-45)

It is easy to resist the temptation to power and self-display in the abstract (very much as it is to imagine we can avoid all trace of self-pity), but when one is caught in the cross hairs of the devil’s pincers, the battle becomes very intense indeed. All his efforts were directed to drawing Jesus away from the path of suffering that would lead Him to the Cross. The vulnerability Jesus endured in the wilderness, and the temptations He faced, there be met again in full and tremendous force in Gethsemane, when He was as desperate as anyone would be to avoid the ordeal that lay immediately ahead of Him.

How carefully Lucifer seeks to gain his ground, often managing to come across as very plausible and spiritual, even quoting Scriptures to show how sound and wise and principles his arguments are. It takes discernment to see through his blandishments – and then later courage withstand the full weight of his assaults as reveals himself in his true colours and blazes forth in the fury that fuels and fires his whole being. Is this not true, too, of those who set out to deceive great swathes and sectors of the public by pandering and playing to their wishes, whilst all the time nursing and concocting their own more sinister agendas?

When satan seeks to induce Jesus to worship him, and speaks as if he were the rightful owner of the Earth, the one in whom is vested the authority to distribute power to whomever he pleases, he is like a politician who makes promises he cannot keep, and who cares naught for the people that he deceives, even to the point of deriving satisfaction from having found the means to delude them.

Everything would have gone wrong if Jesus had succumbed to these oh-so-subtle blandishments. He knew that it would only be through His suffering and passion that deliverance would come for the world. His resolve to follow where His Father led, therefore, had to be put to the test.

Although we read that angels ministered to Him in the wilderness, the overall sense we come away with is of a man on His own, up against all that the ‘Bleak One’ could throw at him. The devil loves to dangle the flash and the glitzy before people’s eyes, when he isn’t resorts to threats and violent attacks and accusations. But the purpose and mission for which the Father anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit was not only to set people free from their afflictions and preach the good news to the poor, but also so that He would have the strength to endure the passion that awaited him.

May the Lord raise up a generation of believers who will display a level of endurance that enables them to triumph over trials and temptations in whatever shape or form they are presented, whether that be a sense of utter worthless to the point of giving up altogether or, at the polar opposite, the temptation to consider themselves far more important than they truly are.

Always, it is humility and kindness that the Lord delights to see and honour. Never can we afford to forget, in the realm of politics as well as in the Church, that the Lord says,

‘For thus says the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, but also with those who are contrite and humble in spirit, [overcome with sorrow for sins] to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite, [but also with the one who is bruised and crushed and] contrite and lowly in spirit.’ (i) (Is 57:15)

(i) Thus saith the Most High, who dwells on high for ever, Holy in the holies, is his name, the Most High resting in the holies, and giving patience to the faint-hearted, and giving life to the broken-hearted. (Brenton Septuagint)

Photo by Patrick Schneider on Unsplash