Vasta N. Kamara

PART 3. TAKE THE SHORTCUT AT YOUR OWN RISK

Lessons from Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness (continued)

I am a Muganda by tribe, a tribe rich in culture, rituals and traditions. Among them are rituals performed at weddings, in preparation for marriage, burials, birth celebrations among others. My sister and I however were raised by my mother who is a Mutooro by tribe and a firm believer in Christ. When my sister was getting married, one of the elders in the Buganda family advised that we needed to go to the village ( our ancestral home) to dig around our father and ancestors graveyards to seek blessings over our marriages. This did not resonate with our faith and much as they threatened that things would turn south if we don’t do as they advised, we were confident in the fact that Marriage is God’s idea and God had already blessed the marriage.

Mathew 4:8-11

⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ⁹ “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”

¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’^[e]”

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Jesus was to inherit the world but to do so he had to conquer sin by dying on the cross and then inherit the earth. The devil knew this and so offered him a short cut, ‘just bow down and worship me, and I will give you all this’. You don’t have to die on the cross for people…. I have a better option.

Are you in a situation where you have desperately fasted and prayed about an issue for so long but the burden, the pain or the problem does not seem to go away? Are you still in fear?, you are still in doubt? Do you feel like the journey to your break through is long?

What attractive option is the devil offering you?

Don’t be deceived by the devil. No matter what you are going through, remember that God has already given you all things pertaining to life and Godliness.  There is therefore nothing that the devil has to offer except lies.