Not By Bread Alone

Jesus answered, “It is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

 

The Gospel writer tells us that after fasting forty days and forty nights, Jesus was hungry. Surely that's an understatement. He must have been famished. And it’s precisely at this point of overwhelming physical need that the tempter set his first trap: If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.

One can only imagine how Jesus must have felt at that moment. Make no mistake about it, Jesus felt the awful power of that temptation. The author of the book of Hebrews tells us he was “tempted in every way, just as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Yet with every cell in his body crying out for nourishment, Jesus declared: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

How can we not be moved by such devotion to the Word of God? Is it possible that we, with our plentiful food, are spiritually malnourished? This Lent, inspired by Christ’s example, let us nourish ourselves, not just with bread, but with the Word of God.

Let us nourish ourselves with the Word of God.