Passing the Test

When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13), the Greek sense is that of a test. In academics, a person who supervises a test is called a proctor. Jesus was severely tested in three major areas, by an adversarial proctor. The tester was an antagonist whose purpose was to try and make Jesus fail. His test was not on doctrine by itself, but certainly on the implications of doctrine. Theologians would say that his test was not on orthodoxy (right teaching) but on orthopraxy (right practice). However, right teaching was at the root of what Jesus chose to do. As he said no to a series of three temptations, his answer was always grounded in a deep understanding of God's will as taught in the Hebrew Scriptures.What about us? As the proctor of life's temptations confronts us, how well prepared are we to pass the test?