And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.  Luke 4:4; Matt. 4:4 (KJV)

By God’s grace we have succeeded in looking at the first temptation of Christ by the devil; the Holy Spirit prompting us to the three cogent tricks of the devil viz: vulnerability; launching attacks on our faith thereby creating identity problem or lack of confidence; and pushing on us survival first mentality. But we thank God our Master and Lord gave him an epic answer. The answer or response to this temptation by our Lord ensured his victory, as well as ours if we understand it and live accordingly.

Our victory over temptations depends on how we respond to them. Christ’s response was sharp and projected. Christ countered with God’s word, not lingering to do so. The import of God’s word to Christian can never be over emphasized. This will, however, be thoroughly dealt with in the response to the third temptation.

From the first response, hence, we glean the following:

1. Food is important, but not enough 2. Our survival is determinant upon God
2. Food is Important, But not Enough

…man shall not live by bread alone…

Food is essential to life. We need food to live and for our body to function effectively. Good dieting ensures we have strong and beautiful body to fulfill our God given assignments. I once read that on his death bed, David Brainerd, the young American evangelist to the Northern Native Americans, said that he was dying because he had failed to take care of his body. He lived on a rigorous timetable that he neglected food and rest most of the time, despite with his ill health.* The price he paid for that was high-he died at just 29 years. No doubt, his love for God was higher than for himself; for he threw himself wholly into the work; but he forgot that no matter how much we want to dedicate our lives to God, we still need this body to function.

Nevertheless, we must always remember that we eat to live; we do not live to eat. Food was made for man, not man for food. Our life is not dependent on food. Instead there are other things needed for survival.

Notice Christ said “Man shall not by bread alone”. The word ‘alone’, means aside food there are other requirements for man’s survival. (Read John 6:26-27, 49-50). Here we see Christ sliding from the material to the immaterial. He mentions food here in allegorical term. This seems to be Jesus’ style of talking general – always moving slowly and logically from the corporeal to ethereal and from minor things of earth to those of eternal consequence. A perfect example of this is seen in his discussion with the Samaritan woman.

Food could be anything material: money, clothes, or other basic necessities. They are essential but fleeting. They are necessary but at the same time temporary. Jesus demands here that we do not set out in pursuit of the temporary alone. Our target, drive and passion shouldn’t be other the material need alone.

The end product of food is waste. No matter how much hungry we are, once we eat the body selects a part of the food to be digested and the rest is discarded. Paul warns that both the belly and food will eventually be done away with by God (1 Cor.6:13). Therefore, the pursuit of mere survival is a waste. We must not aim to just survive, we must thrive, but in so doing we must be careful not give ourselves to sin.

The Maccavellian statement, “The end justifies the means”, is not for the believer. We cannot go to any extent or allow sin to get bread. Yes, our needs sometimes tend to drive us crazy to such extent that if we let down our guards we may fall into sin. During this period when we are arrested by our needs our regard for God and our hope of eternal salvation should be paramount. These should be our resistance in times like these.

Matthew Henry said in his commentary, “A man may want bread, and yet be a favourite of heaven and under the conduct of heaven.” That we go through hunger and want does not mean we are less favoured by God or that the rich and wealthy are more righteous; neither does our poverty. Therefore, we must run to get material bread at all cost. There is the bread that does not perish, that we should seek after. Moreover, as Adam Clarke has rightly commented “God will always provide for those who trust in him”. Thus, any physical suffering we have now is temporal and will soon pass.

Jesus being the Bread of Life from heaven knew what genuine hunger meant. He knew it wasn’t the pursuit of immediate gratification, instead of eternal satisfaction. In the beatitudes, he gives the definition of true hunger. True hunger, he says, is the hunger after righteousness-it is the hunger for God (Matt. 5:6).

1. Our survival is determinant upon God

                        “…but by every word of God.”

Now we come to the latter part of the response. Christ is showing us the role of God in our daily survival. He is showing us what we indeed need to pursue. Our survival, he seems to be saying, rarely depends on the food we eat, rather largely on God’s every word.

The Bible makes us know that God created the world by his word and is sustaining it by the same. Thus, his word is enough to sustain us. That we need to depend on God’s words for our survival is more than a statement, it is a fact. God’s word is replete with promises and we can recline on his faithfulness. He says that he “exalts his word” more than he does his name.

Man has a glorious purpose beyond the mere survival that drives our society (Luke 12:23, Romans 14:17a, 2Tim 2:9). Man’s survival lies on what God says about us. And God has said wonderful things about us. We are all a part of his grand scheme.

Most times while we busy ourselves on what we want to become or need to do to survive, we forget to seek out God’s counsel for our lives. We practically neglect God’s counsel for our lives. However, by seeking God we will live an anxiety free life. I once used to say, “God does the worrying, I do the living”. That means I don’t have to worry because God’s got me. With God our future is assured. When we are totally dependent on God, He’ll supply our every need.

God’s purpose for our lives is what we must seek out every day as long as we live. Some just go on living without knowing specifically why they do. Some just don’t care. We are not here to add to numbers, we are here for a reason and it must be fulfilled. Michael once sang in a line in ‘Will You Be There’, “Seems that the world’s got a role for me”. Well, it’s not the world, it is God. God is got a role for all of us (2Tim.2:9). We are not here by accident, but by divine incident.

Just think of the alternatives our cultures have given to us. Pleasure, wealth, power, fame, fate, charity, peace, education, ethnicity-the list goes on endlessly. And when none of these work, some amalgam of spirituality and pragmatism is embraced. But these pursuits do not tell us why we are here in the first place. These may be ways of ordering one's life, but is life to be defined by what I pursue, or must my pursuit be defined by what life was meant to be?*

Ravi Zecharias has several times shared the testimony of how God’s word in John 14:19 saved his life. He had been a misfit to himself and to his family that his father thought he would be one to bring shame to the family. But on his hospital bed someone brought him a Bible from where he read God’s plan for him: “Because I live, ye shall live also”. I need not tell you that today Ravi is a leading Christian apologist; that is if not the best in the field of Christian philosophy. It’s so wonderful the transformation we encounter when we allow the word of God to work in us. We do not how much God could do with our life until we hand it over to him.

We must live by the dictum of God’s word for our lives. We can do nothing of ourselves. Doesn’t Jesus say something similar in John 15:5? Our daily living must be rested on his word. By so doing, the chances of falling into the tempter’s trap becomes thinned out. Moreover, we move closer to fulfilling God’s plans for our lives as we look into his word-we are changed from glory to glory.

I think it was Charles H. Spurgeon who once said, “Give your life to God he can do more with it than you ever could”. This is a truism. You don’t how much God would do with your life until you turn it over to him. No one has lived for God and regretted it.

Earthly bread will never satisfy us. Jesus told the woman at the well that however much water she fetched from the well, she would always come back, why? It’s because she’d always be thirsty. But there is the water that satisfies and it is from heaven. And there is the living bread-the Rhema. This therefore, should be our pursuit.

Ravi adds:

Christ warns that there are depths to our hungers that the physical does not plumb. There are heights to existential aspirations that our activities cannot attain. There are breadths of need that the natural cannot span.

In summary, He reminds us that bread cannot sustain interminably. He is the Bread of Life that eternally sustains. And He does it as no other has ever done.*

Our physical life must not be lived at the expense of the spiritual. Physical hunger at worst leads to bodily harm, which of course is temporary. But spiritual hunger is of dire consequence. Its neglect is of eternal significance-an eternal separation from God. It is therefore, only wise that things of greater consequences are given more attention. Let us heed the words of Christ and prioritize our spiritual life than the physical.

* Disclaimer: I am not really certain of the authenticity of this story or its source.

* Ravi Zecharias, Jesus Among Other Gods. W Publishing Group, a Division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., PO. Box 141000, Nashville, Tennessee, 37214, 2000.

* Ibid

Gabriel T. Abina is a lively Christian writer, whose desire is to be a voice for God in this generation. A graduate of Hist. & Int. Stds, he has two completed manuscripts: In The Eye of the Storm & Rahab: God's Grace Unveiled, and currently on some others. He blogs @ gabrieltabinablog.wordpress.com