Often, when reading a Bible passage we’ve read many times before, we find some new aspect of its message occurs to us through inspiration, to encourage us and feed our thirst for things spiritual.
Recently, I read Luke’s account of Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness and being tempted of the devil (see 4:1–13). It was at the beginning of his career, after he had been baptized by John. Volumes have been written about these temptations, but this reading made me think that I ought not to be surprised at the enormous mental energy that is required sometimes for us to vanquish the hold that sickness or sin would claim to have on us.
The account records three instances in which Jesus spoke emphatically to rid himself of devilish suggestions, and he did it always on the basis of “it is written”—that is on the basis of Scripture and the already revealed Word of God. It is no wonder that Mary Baker Eddy gave as the first tenet of her Church, “As adherents of Truth, we take the inspired Word of the Bible as our sufficient guide to eternal Life” (Science and Health, p. 497).
