And immediately the spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there forty days, tempted of satan. Mk1:12-13a
Self preservation is a basic instinct. We pray more often than
not to have life easy and for things to go smooth. We want wealth
and health and an early retirement. Yet when Jesus received the
Spirit he was driven into the desert to be tempted for forty days and
satan left him only for a season. Jesus had to be tempted in all
ways to fully understand the human condition, yet without sin until sin
met him on the cross. God deemed it necessary to make Jesus a man
of substance: someone who went through the fire rather than going
around it. As a person of substance, he spent many nights on
mountains in prayer. He led a solitary life even though he had a
following, no one fully comprehending either what he said or what he
did. As a person of substance he had compassion for the poor, the
sick, the cast down and rejected. He met adversity with faith and
courage accepting even death on a cross. He was willing to engage
with the religious, the intellectual: those who wanted to earn the
kingdom by their works deeming themselves worthy of eternal life
because of their own goodness and virtue. As a person of
substance he rejected the temptation to become a worldly king and lived
without many of the amenities that most of us are accustomed to.
When he spoke, he spoke from the depth of his being sharing mysteries
that have yet to be fully unraveled. When he preached he
commanded the attention of all who heard him and with authority was
able to cast out demons. As a child we know that he grew in grace
and truth. This growth process followed him throughout his
earthly journey as he yielded to the Spirit and did only what the
Father showed him to do. Jesus who told us we must deny ourselves
was speaking from personal experience. He asks nothing of us that
he himself has not experienced. Do you wish to be a person of
substance or are you content to stay close to shore not venturing out
into the deep? God is looking for people of substance.
People who have allowed God to enter into the body and drive them into
the desert, people who are willing to engage with temptation, with
poverty, and lack in order to appreciate the human condition, the life
of Christ, and the value of the blessing when we have succeeded in
learning obedience, faith, and the value of trials, tribulation, and
persecution. God is looking for people of substance, not the
shallow, self consumed, and self motivated. Jesus was a person of
substance and God wants nothing less of us. Instead of praying to
avoid the challenges and struggles of life, ask God to make you like
Jesus, regardless of the cost, regardless of the sacrifice. If
you make that a sincere prayer, God will honor that prayer. He
wants nothing less than people, who like Jesus, are people of
substance: people with depth, compassion, and integrity: people who
have engaged with satan, with temptation, and trial and have persevered
and
overcome.
Jesus Christ: a person of substance amen. |