22 February – The First Sunday of Lent, Matthew 4.1 – 11
Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ 4But he answered, ‘It is written,
“One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” ’
Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
“He will command his angels concerning you”,
and “On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’
7Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” ’
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; 9and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ 10Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
“Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him.” ’
11Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
Things to think about with the child at the centre:
Activities
You can test people’s resilience to temptation by seeing how long they go without eating a sweet they’re given, or eating a doughnut without licking their lips, or putting a fruit pastille in their mouth without chewing it.
Create a TEMPTATION acrostic – can you think of something beginning with each letter that you can be tempted by?
Response
Jesus is tempted by the devil in three ways – FOOD, DOUBT and SHORTCUTS, which are all ways in which we can be tempted ourselves today.
FOOD represents those things which are necessary to us, but which we can over-indulge in, like food, football or fortnite. As we go into Lent, it is often these things that people choose to give up as part of their commitment to God
DOUBTING God’s power and personality is easy to do – it also demonstrates the doubts we have in ourselves, when we doubt that God would be interested in us.
SHORTCUTS to success and achievement are tempting, but Jesus understands that putting in the hard work is much more important, because it not only gets us where we want to go, but it builds our character on the journey.
Prayer
Resisting temptation is much easier when we do it together – when someone else is there to help and encourage us. Link arms with the people either side of you to show that we are united in our resistance, and we are going to help each other. Say together this prayer, or something similar.
Dear God, please help me to be strong when I am tempted to do something wrong.
Help me find the way out when I’m tempted, like you promised.
Help me remember your Word, like Jesus did, so I can answer temptation with truth.
Help us to support each other in our fight against temptation.
Give us your power to choose what’s right and please you.
AMEN
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