One way of summing up “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4) is, “receiving and obeying God’s word is more important than eating.” For Jesus, that meant being willing to starve sooner than mistrust and disobey His Father.
This reminds me of a story involving Tertullian, a theologian who lived in the early centuries after Christ. According to the story, a silversmith, who made his living crafting idols, became a disciple of Jesus. Now he had a dilemma on his hands: his job was incompatible with his faith in Christ. He spoke to Tertullian and rationalized that if he gave up making idols, he would have no way to feed himself. “And I must live,” he finished.
“Must you?” was Tertullian’s reply.
In other words, no compromise.
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
(Matthew 16:24–25.)
