As living organisms, we need to make chemical energy to stay alive. ATP is the molecule within our body that can transmit chemical energy within our cells. When parts of ATP break down, it releases energy while turning into ADP, absorbing heat and recovering the lost parts (Berg).
This reaction makes ATP able to function as a molecule that can give energy and consume energy. ATP is the energy behind heartbeats, nerve transmission, and even physical muscular movements (Berg).
ATP works because through the breakdown of food, chemical energy is released and taken by ATP, releasing it to other parts of the body for cellular processes. Cells need this energy to keep us alive. As crucial as ATP is, it does not store energy. Carbohydrates fulfill the role of saving energy, as well as glycogen and fats. When the body needs energy, the stored energy within carbohydrates, glycogen, and fats convert themselves into ATP, which shuttles this energy to where the body needs it (Berg).
There are several processes by which the body uses energy or breaks it down. When eating, the body breaks down food into glucose. Glucose is a type of sugar used for energy. Glycolysis is breaking down a glucose molecule into carbon molecules for energy. Gluconeogenesis is the opposite of this process in which it creates glucose and stores this energy, while glycolysis takes this energy and uses it (Berg).
Now that we know a bit of how energy works within the body, let us look into a specific example of what happens after eating a meal. After eating a meal, glucose and lipids travel to the blood. The secretion of insulin signals to the body that it is now in the fed state, and the storage of fuels takes place. Protein production stimulates glycogen production in the muscle and the liver (Berg).
As the liver increases glycogen, glycolysis speeds up to increase the storage of this energy in fatty acids. Glucose is converted into glycogen because the body wants to maintain a homeostasis level of glucose. Too much glucose in the blood can cause disease that puts the body at risk for heart disease and stroke. When glycogen stores in certain situations, it is released as glucose during fasting or starvation (Berg).
Several hours after a meal, the glucose that was in the blood begins to drop. Insulin thus decreases, and glucagon starts to rise. Glucagon is simply a signal to the body that the body is starved or fed (Berg).
Because of this, glucagon breaks down some of the glycogen for energy. Once glycogen depletes from the liver, the body then replaces this glucose with lactate and alanine. Glycerol also releases as well as remaining carbons from muscle proteins. A typical well-nourished human being finishes their carbohydrate reserves within one day of fasting (Berg).
The body, to preserve proteins, will use fatty acids and ketone bodies as energy. After three days of starvation, the brain utilizes ketone bodies for about a third of its energy needs. Within one week, this increases to about 2/3 of significant fuel for the brain. Once this triacylglycerol tank is empty from producing ketone bodies, proteins are next in line with what the body will use for energy (Berg).
Proteins are the ultimate potential source of energy where the amino acids become a source of glucose. Important to note, however, that proteins are not stored. When the body uses proteins in the body, this results in a breakdown of different body functions. Our body relies on proteins to function correctly. Once the body starts using proteins as a fuel source due to the last result to obtain energy, bad things happen (Berg).
Protein degradation will increase the chances of death not necessarily due to starvation but to the loss of functions in the body that cannot process their tasks effectively. This function includes the heart, liver, and kidney function, all vital to a human being (Berg).
So how does this relay spiritually? Well, there is one man in the new testament that fasts for 40 days.
Matthew 4: 1-11
“Then Jesus was led by the SpiritSpirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
“If you are the Son of God, he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written. He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you in their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus answered him, “It is also written: Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve him only. Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
A few bullet points to this story.
1. After being baptized, Jesus went immediately into the wilderness.
- Sometimes you think it’s the devil that leads you into bad situations, but it might be God who is trying to get you to be ready for something bigger that is more prominent than yourself.
2. Jesus went into the desert before he began his public ministry.
In other words, his test began before God revealed him to the world.
- Whatever trial you’re going through right now might be the last test before you are ready to be seen. Pass the test in the dark so that your victory can shine itself in the light. The real test doesn’t come when you think you’re ready; it occurs when God wants to move you to conquer your next mountain.
3. The bible says that AFTER 40 days, Jesus was hungry, not before not during but AFTER 40 days. The human body can survive 3-4 weeks without food; it can only survive a few days without water. Jesus stayed without FOOD for 40 days BEFORE HE FELT HUNGRY.
- Jesus doesn’t base his energy on physical strength. Our willpower will eventually get depleted over time, but what Jesus did shows how he could access spiritual power through God, the energy that never drains.
4. Now there is another thing; the devil came to Jesus AFTER 40 DAYS NOT BEFORE, NOT DURING, BUT AFTER HE WAS HUNGRY.
Coincidence? Nope, the devil knew this would be when Jesus would be weakest. Satan waited until Jesus was perhaps at his lowest willpower to come to tempt him.
- It is also not a coincidence that it feels like your most challenging days are when the most temptations happen. When the mind is dull, or the body is tired, it’s easy to give in and give up. Psychology studies on patience and willpower have shown time and time again that human self-control depletes over time. It’s like a muscle; the more you use it, the more time it needs to replenish.
- When you leave a cookie out in front of a child, all you have to do is wait. Eventually, that child won’t be able to resist. Adults are the same when we face temptation by drugs, sex, alcohol, or shopping; our willpower is only enough for a certain amount of time. This truth makes the devil’s job easier to tempt because all he has to do is wait. And until Jesus comes back, the enemy has all the time in the world. However, we don’t.
5. Notice that this is the first time we have seen the devil tempt a human being seemingly face to face, except perhaps, Adam and Eve? Why is Jesus called the second Adam?
- Because he almost went through the same events as Adam, except instead of defeat, he overcame them. Especially with this particular temptation as well as on the cross.
6. What is the first thing that the devil tempts Jesus? He said IF YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD…
- THE DEVIL KNOWS WHO JESUS IS. I mean, they were together in Heaven before he fell. Yet, it is interesting how the devil questions his identity in the form of a question. That is how he tempts you as well. If you are the son of God, if you are pure, if you are a secure woman, if you are a faithful husband, if you are a child of God if you are (fill in the blank).
- He says your status in the form of a question. He questions what your identity is. If you get your identity from money or fame or wealth, you feel the most insecure and baren if those things get taken away. Once Satan questions Jesus’s identity, Then he tempts Jesus physically.
7. How does Jesus reply? With not his own words, but words from the bible. Jesus answers that he doesn’t live in the physical; he lives and depends on the spiritual.
- That’s where he gets his spiritual food from; that food fills him up and allows him to have an unlimited source of spiritual ATP that feeds his Spirit and gives him the energy to carry himself through temptation.
8. Then the devil comes back, takes him to the holy city, has him stand on the highest point, and commands Jesus to jump. Why?
- Well, if the devil can’t make you do something, he tries to make you feel like you’re missing out. For example, if I resist temptation, I should feel good about myself. But instead, I may start to feel like I’m missing what I gave up. So even if I fight, he tries to steal my joy during the victory.
- If you’re doing what you’re supposed to, but you don’t feel like it’s enough or that it’s worth it, that again is the devil trying to make you focus on the loss rather than the gain. Jesus resisted him with the bread temptation, so the next move the devil has is making it seem like, “well, Jesus, if you can’t have food, you might as well throw yourself off this mountain so that your angels can attend to you.” In other words, you are resisting me and are victorious thus far, so let me try and make you focus on the loss, which involves your hunger, instead of the gain of what you are doing to combat me.
- Again he quotes SCRIPTURE- this is key. Demons know scripture too. So how important is it for us to know it as well?
9. Then Jesus answers; it is also written, “do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
- See, Jesus knows what the devil is trying to do. The devil goes after his physical need; then, he goes after his ability to fix and control the situation (emotional temptation), knowing that Jesus can call down a legion of angels at any point to help him. He fasted for 40 days is unbelievable and remarkable because he willingly did it, knowing that he could make food for himself any moment in time before that. How many times has the devil tempted you with wanting to control a situation? So often, there are times where we can fix an issue or manage the case, and yet it is better to wait for God. The devil went after him physically; then, he went after his power or ability to control the situation.
- This move went from a physical chess move to now emotional chess move; the devil is trying to make JESUS ACT IMPULSIVILY OUT OF EMOTION. Emotion is probably the number one reason why we fail to resist temptation. OUR BRAINS PERCEIVE EMOTION AS REAL AND INTENSE, AND SOMETIMES IT JUST SEEMS LIKE WHEN WE FEEL SOMETHING THAT IT IS REAL. However, Jesus was not going to act impulsively or out of a lack of control, just because he was hungry.
Jesus leaves an unbelievable blueprint for how to overcome temptation. Memorizing the text allows Jesus to resist the physical, emotional, and spiritual temptations from the enemy to control his situation rather than wait and hope for the glory of God. He knew his text, but he also lived it at the same time.
Resources
Berg, Jeremy M. “Food Intake and Starvation Induce Metabolic Changes.” Biochemistry. 5th Edition., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 1 Jan. 1970, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22414/.
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