The Temptation of Christ

And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, "'He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,' and "'On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'" And Jesus answered him, "It is said, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'" -Luk 4:9-12

If Jesus was tempted for 40 days, why are only three of Satan's attempts listed? These same three are listed in Matthew. I suspect Satan challenged Jesus more than three times over the course of those 40 days. I suspect these three are listed because Satan only has three ways he tempts God's children...

1. He exploits our physical desires to get us to disobey God. This is his strategy with trying to get Jesus to turn stones into bread when he was hungry. He tries to distract us from remembering God's provision both by providing our needs in his perfect timing and by sustaining us through the need.
2. He attempts to make himself look good. "Look, I can give you all the kingdoms of the world. I'm your best friend. Trust me (just like Adam and Eve did, moohaha)."
3. Then he distorts Scripture, quoting it accurately. This is the most dangerous of all the temptations because we have Biblical support to keep on doing what we're doing. Look at evils like slavery, male chauvinism, drunkenness, licentiousness, legalism, etc. that have been performed under the guise of "the Bible says," when it clearly doesn't.

OK. There are probably lots of other ways to analyze these three temptations--pride, doubt, putting faith to the test--but these are the three I saw today, and it's my blog, so that's what you get. Please post your analysis for everybody else's reading pleasure.