Jesus went from Galilee to the Jordan, to be baptized by his forerunner, John, who had been calling the people  to baptismal repentance. On seeing Jesus, John raised an objection saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus responded, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.”  Then John consented. Significantly, when Jesus was baptized there was a testimony to the fact that he was the son of God. A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17. NIV).

After this dramatic experience of affirmation, Jesus was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. A wilderness is an isolated, desolate, and unpopulated place.  Jesus spent forty days and forty nights in fasting after which he was hungry. This spiritual exercise, separation, and intentionality of the fast, was a time to seek God’s face; to engage with God in the spirit as he chose to deny himself of things that are necessary for life so that his spirit could be open to God. When his time of fasting ended, as a human being, he was hungry, and the evil one went to tempt him.

The devil used the logistic challenge of hunger as the first point of temptation, which was to question the word of God.   This first temptation was to question the sonship of Jesus.  Are you really the son of God? If you are then prove it, by commanding these stones to become bread.  God had spoken about His son, saying two things: firstly, he said ‘this is my Son, whom I love’. Secondly, He said, ‘with him I am well pleased.” The devil is asking, “really?” If you do believe that then prove it. The question is, ‘are you really the son of God?’ The answer of Jesus is very apt, instructive, and necessary, for us in life.  ‘Man shall not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ Jesus responded by quoting Deuteronomy 8:3. This temptation was for Jesus to prove that he was the son of God. Jesus’ response indicates that what he thinks, feels or does is irrelevant. What God has said is what we live by.

A careful reading of Jesus’ response will discern that  that a human being, created in the image of God, and who bears that image, which is  both of the earth and of heaven, (made out of the soil and alive by the breath of God, has in him the spark of God), shall not live like other living creation who need bread to survive.  All animals must eat or they die and their whole activities is geared towards obtaining this bread. However, man, created in the image of God, lives not just by bread, that is, what they can create, consume, and gather but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. The person who chooses to live on bread alone is very alive physically but very dead because he is not living by the standard which God made for man, which is that man must live wholly by the word of God.

A man shall carry on and conduct his life, survive, and be sustained, not by what he can gather, create, and consume but by aligning himself with the word of God, that comes from the heart of God. This is what defines who man is, his destiny, purpose, and ways of operation. It is by living in line with this word of God that a man’s purpose is fulfilled.

To ensure our lives and mission are defined by the word we must get into the word, ingest, and invest in it, not only to have it in our heads but spoken from His mouth to our spirit such that in all that we do the primary place is given to “What has God said?”  Our circumstances, challenges, physical realities, and limitations do not define us. What ought to define us is what God has said. For instance, in the context of our struggles on earth, the Scripture says we are crucified with Christ, buried with him, risen with him, exalted to the heavenly places in him and seated at the right hand of God the father in him (Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 2:6). These are the words God has spoken about us. Regardless of our circumstances this is the perspective from which we operate, whether in living out our lives; engagement in labour or employment; engagement in spiritual warfare with the forces of darkness; or seeking to serve our fellow men in love.  we operate from what God has already said. Jesus speaking further said, “the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63. KJV) The word of God which we embrace gives strength to our spirit and it is as we continue to align ourselves with this word that our purpose in life is fulfilled.