THURSDAY, JULY 30
And Jesus answered him, “It is written…”
Luke 4:4 (ESV)
SELF-CONTROL: KEEP YOUR MIND SATURATED
Suppose you have a sponge and a pitcher of Diet Coke. If you dip your sponge in the Diet Coke and squeeze it, what’s going to come out? Pepsi? No, when you squeeze a sponge soaked in Diet Coke, Diet Coke is going to come out. Besides that, everyone knows drinking Pepsi is pretty close to a sin. (Larry’s opinion, Ha!)
Jesus had self-control because Jesus’ mind was saturated with Scripture. Satan tempts Jesus three times in Luke 4 and all three times Jesus responds with the words, “It is written” or some form of that. For every temptation and lie Satan could throw at Jesus, Jesus had Bible verses filled with truth to resist him. The Bible teaches that Jesus was tempted in every way but never sinned. One of the reasons He never sinned was because His mind was filled with the truth of God’s Word.
If we could squeeze out your mind like a sponge how much scripture would come out? Do you have a favorite Bible verse memorized? If not, take some time to think and pray about what your favorite verse might be. You could even Google popular memory verses. Start small but try to memorize one new Bible verse this week. Write it down on a note card or sticky note and keep it somewhere you will see it often during the day. You will be blessed and amazed how memorizing Bible verses can help you with self-control.
