Temptation of Jesus

Mat 4:3 And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."
Mat 4:5 Then the devil *took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,
Mat 4:6 and *said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON {their} HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, SO THAT YOU WILL NOT STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'"
Mat 4:8 Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory;
Mat 4:9 and he said to Him, "All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me."

I always thought this was silly. I mean who does the Devil think he's kidding? It's like tempting me to go and murder my children and then I get a new car, Uh no thanks. I never understood why the devil was even wasting his time. And then I had one of those "aha" moments. Satan was tempting Jesus with an alternate plan. Satan said to Jesus, "you can sit on the throne of power without being the suffering servant, AND you can glorify your father, just do it this way." That would be tempting. No beatings, no nails, no cross, you got a pretty phat offer there satan.

Thank you Jesus for being a stronger man than I, for standing up for what you believe even when it was hard.