Love Like You've Never Been Hurt: Hope, Healing and the Power of an Open Heart

by Jentezen Franklin

Most people think the greatest temptation Jesus ever faced was when Satan approached Him after His forty-day fast in the wilderness. I believe it happened just before He was crucified. When Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, He knew that in only a few hours He would be beaten, tortured and hung naked on a cross. He was in anguish as He prayed, sweating drops of blood. “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Matthew 26:39). After He prayed, Roman soldiers swarmed the Garden and arrested Him. Trying to defend Jesus, an enraged Peter cut off the ear of one of the assembled men. Jesus turned to Peter and said, Put away your sword. Those who use the sword will die by the sword. Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? But if I did, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that describe what must happen now? Verses 52–54 Jesus had the ability to end this! He could have come up with plenty of reasons not to follow through with God’s plan. And, frankly, no one would have blamed Him! This was His greatest temptation. The times you are tested the most are when you can justify being ugly, vindictive or outright mean. You can justify, as they say, “giving it to people as good as they gave it to you.” You can justify feeling sorry for yourself because someone you loved betrayed you. Your greatest temptation will come w...