"And the devil said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread'".
First of all, if Satan could tempt the Son of God he would tempt everyone else. So in Jesus' temptation I'd like us to see something important. Satan tempted Jesus after God had said to Him-
"You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased".
The second thing here is I want you to note that God called Jesus "My beloved Son". If God affirms people there must be wisdom in it. I have noticed that there are people who neither give nor receive affirmation, and the basic truth is that such people are not whole. If you find it very difficult to tell people nice things or you always get suspicious or uncomfortable when people tell you nice things then you are sick.
Third thing here, notice that Satan said almost the same thing when tempting Jesus but he removed a very important word. God said "You are My beloved Son", Satan said "If you are the Son of God"...
The devil didn't add the word "beloved" while tempting Jesus because he didn't want to run the risk of reminding Him that He was beloved. If he reminds you that you are loved then it becomes counter - productive. Most people will not give in to temptation if they realize they are loved; most people will not deliberately go out to hurt those they love.
It was because the children of Israel doubted the love of God that they kept complaining and murmuring against God and Moses, they actually accused both God and Moses of trying to kill them. It is because a child doubts the father's love that that child seeks a sense of belonging and affirmation elsewhere. I have counseled men and women who fell into extra-marital relationships because they felt their spouse didn't love them.
If we would all learn to encourage someone, smile at someone, find the good in someone, and add value to someone every single day we may just end up saving more people than we know. One thing I am sure of is if we do this we will all become better human beings.
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