Friday, October 21, 2022

David O. McKay (October 1911) on the Temptations of Jesus in the Wilderness

  

Now, what do we mean by the world? It is sometimes used as an indefinite term. I take it that the world refers to the inhabitants who are alienated from the Saints of God. They are aliens to the Church, and it is the spirit of this alienation that we should keep ourselves free from. We are told by Paul not to conform to the fashions of the world. Titus was warned not to partake of those things, the evils of the world, and to "Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." Purity of heart--Zion is the pure in heart, we have been told, and the strength of this Church lies in the purity of the thoughts and lives of its members, then the testimony of Jesus abides in the soul, and strength comes to each individual to withstand the evils of the world.

 

These evils present themselves insidiously in our daily associations. They come in the shape of temptations, as they came to the Savior after His baptism. What were those temptations? When Satan said, "Command these stones to be made bread," be was appealing to the appetite. He knew that Jesus was hungry, that He was physically weak, and thought that by pointing to those little lime stones which resemble somewhat a Jewish loaf of bread, he could awaken a desire to eat. Failing in that, when He received the divine word, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Satan then tried Him in another way. He dared him--an appeal to His pride, to His vanity, quoted scripture to support his temptation, for remember the devil can find scripture for his purpose, and "an evil soul producing holy witnesses is like a villain with a smiling cheek, a goodly apple rotten at the heart. Oh, what a goodly outside falsehood has." But the Savior answered him in terms of scripture, "It is also written, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." What was the third? An appeal to His love of power, domain, wealth, "All these, (the kingdoms of the world and the glory thereof), I will give you," said the tempter, "if you will only fall down and worship me." "Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shall thou serve." Now, nearly every temptation that comes to you and me comes in one of those forms. Classify, them, and you will find that under one of those three nearly every given temptation that makes you and me spotted, ever so little maybe, comes to us as (1) a temptation of the appetite: (2) a yielding to the pride and fashion and vanity of those alienated from the things of God; or (3) a gratifying of the passion, or a desire for the riches of the world, or power among men. (Conference Report, October 1911, pp. 58-59)