Chapter 12

Tempted by the Devil

DID anyone ever ask you to do something that was wrong?⁠— Did he dare you to do it? Or did he say it would be fun and that it would not really be wrong to do it?⁠— When someone does this to us, he is trying to tempt us.

What should we do when we are tempted? Should we give in and do what is wrong?⁠— That would not please Jehovah God. But do you know whom it would make happy?⁠— Satan the Devil.

Satan is the enemy of God and he is our enemy. We cannot see him, because he is a spirit. But he can see us. One day the Devil talked with Jesus, the Great Teacher, and tried to tempt him. Let’s find out what Jesus did. Then we will know the right thing to do when we are tempted.

Jesus had gone away to the mountains to pray to God. He wanted to think about the work God gave him to do.

While Jesus was there in the mountains, forty days and nights went by! All of this time Jesus did not eat anything. Jesus was now very hungry.

This is when Satan tried to tempt Jesus. The Devil said: “If you are a son of God, tell this stone to become a loaf of bread.” How good some bread would taste!

But could Jesus have turned a stone into a loaf of bread?⁠— Yes, he could. For Jesus is the Son of God. He has special powers.

Would you have made the stone a loaf of bread if the Devil asked you to do it?⁠— Jesus was hungry. So would it have been all right to do it just once?⁠— Jesus knew that it would be wrong to use his powers in this way. Jehovah gave him these powers to draw people to God, not to use them on himself.

So, instead, Jesus told Satan that it is written in the Bible: ‘Man must live, not on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from Jehovah’s mouth.’ Jesus knew that doing what pleases Jehovah is even more important than having food to eat.

But the Devil tried again. He took Jesus into Jerusalem and had him stand up on a high part of the temple. Then the Devil said to Jesus: ‘If you are a son of God, throw yourself down from here. For it is written that God’s angels will keep you from hurting yourself.’ What did Jesus do?⁠—

Again, Jesus did not listen to Satan. He told Satan that it was wrong to test Jehovah by taking chances with his life.

Still Satan did not give up. He took Jesus along to a very high mountain. He showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Then Satan said to Jesus: ‘All these things I will give you if you bow down and do an act of worship to me.’ What would you have done?⁠—

Jesus would not do it. He knew it would be wrong to worship the Devil no matter what he would get. So Jesus said to the Devil: ‘Go away, Satan! For the Bible says, It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and you must serve only him.’​—Luke 4:1-13; Matthew 4:1-10.

We are faced with temptations too. Do you know how?⁠— Here is an example.

Your mother may make a delicious pie or cake for dinner. But she may tell you not to eat any of it until mealtime. You may be very hungry. So you may feel tempted to eat it. Will you obey your mother?⁠— Satan wants you to disobey.

But remember Jesus. He was very hungry too. But he knew that pleasing God was more important.

As you grow a little older, it may be that some other children will ask you to swallow some pills. Or they may give you a cigarette to smoke. They may tell you that these will make you feel really good. But these things may be drugs. They can make you very sick, and can even kill you. What will you do?⁠—

Remember Jesus. Satan tried to get Jesus to take chances with his life by telling him to jump off the temple. But Jesus would not do it. He did not listen to Satan. Neither should you listen to anyone who tries to get you to take drugs.

It is easy to do what is right when everyone else is doing it. But it can be pretty hard when others are trying to get us to do wrong. They may say that what they are doing is not so bad. But the big question is, What does God say about it? He knows best.

So no matter what others say, we will not do things God says are not right. In that way we will always make God happy, and will never serve the Devil.

(More good advice about how to resist temptation to do wrong is found at Matthew 26:41, Proverbs 22:24, 25 and Psalm 1:1, 2.)