Imagine this. Someone came to you and offered you all the nations, companies, money, and power in the world. You’d have everything you ever wanted and so much more. You could buy anything, go anywhere, do anything. Everyone would listen to you and do what you said. You would be in charge. If someone offered you all that, would you accept it?

Well, if you can believe it, the Bible tells us that someone did get that offer—and they turned it down. The Bible is a collection of books written over hundreds of years by many different authors, who were all inspired by God to write what they did. The Bible is God’s message to us. It tells us about His plan for the world and how He has been working in the world throughout history. It also tells us about how God sent His Son, Jesus, to earth to live among us as one of us. Jesus came to show us who God is and what is important to Him. He came to help us. And guess who it was that turned down the offer of all the kingdoms of the world? It was Jesus.

Jesus was born as a baby to a human mother and grew up in a poor family in a small town on the other side of the world. He went into the family trade of building things. When He was 30 years old, Jesus knew it was finally time to start His ministry and start teaching people about God. But before He got started, He went into the wilderness for 40 days to focus on God. He fasted during this time, not eating anything.

After 40 days, Jesus was tired, weak, and hungry. But things didn’t get easier, because then, the devil showed up. He offered Jesus temptations to try to get Him to disobey God, but Jesus stayed strong. He didn’t give into the first two temptations. But then came the third temptation.

The Bible says, “Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ‘I will give it all to you,’ he said, ‘if you will kneel down and worship me.’ ‘Get out of here, Satan,’ Jesus told him. ‘For the Scriptures say, “You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”’ Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.” (Matthew 4:8–11)

Why would Jesus turn down all the kingdoms of the world? Because Jesus was never going to bow down to the devil. Only God is worthy of worship. Jesus also wasn’t going to give up on His mission while He was on earth—and His mission required Him not to be a king or a powerful person. His mission required Him to be humble and to serve others.