Why did Jesus not turn stones into bread?

Why did Jesus not turn stones into bread?

During the temptation of Jesus Christ, Satan asked Him to turn stones into bread. Was it that Jesus knew He could not turn stones into bread and therefore ignored Satan? For obvious reasons, Jesus refused to do the bidding of Satan not because He cannot turn stones to bread. As Christians, we are sometimes tempted to show off the power of God when challenged by unbelievers. There is nothing wrong in doing this provided it is not in conflict with God’s standard. Remember that Satan is very wise. That was why he tried to trick Jesus into obeying him.

Satan knew very well that Jesus Christ could not deny the fact He is the Son of God. For this reason, Satan tried to play a fast one on Jesus Christ by saying, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” (Matthew 4:3). There was no doubt about the fact that He was the Son of God. The issue was that Jesus had no reason to obey Satan (commit sin) in order to prove that He was the Son of God.

In the same manner, we should not do anything that is in conflict with God just to prove or confirm something. As Christians, we are sometimes forced to swear in order to prove our innocence or perform certain cultural rites before we could be given chieftaincy titles. Most cultural rites involve making sacrifices to evil spirits and dead ancestors. This is unacceptable to God. Exodus 20:3 is very specific about this. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” The Bible also says in James 5:12, “But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.”   

Satan uses material possessions to lure Christians away from God. It was in anticipation of this fact that the Bible has asked this thought-provoking question: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Let us be wise.