Mt 4:9-10 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
During my morning study, I was reading in Mt 4 where Jesus was lead into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The Christian too is being lead into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. This tempting is a purification process as well as a faith building time for the Christian in his/her life so that they might become more like Christ. But unlike the lost who will continue in Satan’s follies of worldly pleasure, the Christian is never left in the wilderness for long.
The words in verse 10 that Jesus speaks to Satan “Get thee hence, Satan” are words that every Christian should and will become very familiar with. Satan will place in front of the Christian many stumbling blocks to physically and mentally attract us to his schemes. There is no reason to list what these acts are, but to say they are the many sinful acts that they are faced with. The physical acts of sin and the sinful thoughts within the mind are just as serious. If we give in to then we are worshipping Satan instead of God. Remember God is a jealous God as can be seen in Ex.34:14 “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God”.
I don’t know many people that don’t claim to be saved and carry the title of being a christian. A true Christian saved by grace and the blood of the Lamb will be tested by Satan just as Jesus was tested in Mt. 4. The only difference is that Jesus was sinless and we are sinners. The true Christian will learn about God’s ways with greater love and desire to please Him and these words will come to their mind and lips often “Get thee hence, Satan”.
May God grant mercy and grace to those that just carry the title of christian, but live not the life of being a true child of the Father is my prayer.