Into the Wilderness

Lent is here. We began with Ash Wednesday yesterday when Chris reminded us that the three practices associated with Lent - prayer, fasting, and almsgiving - really serve to highlight our dependency on God, a sure sign of our being made from dust, of our mortality. 

We continue Sunday as Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, is led by that same Spirit into the wilderness to fast and pray and be tempted by Satan for some forty days. And Luke says: “And when they were ended, he was hungry,” and Satan spoke
(Luke 4:2-3). 

We all know the feeling of hunger. We all know the feeling of being in the wilderness. And perhaps we have experienced the forces of darkness pressing in upon us. Imagine all of these at once. After fasting. For forty days. 

Thus begins our season of Lent. I hope you’ll be present to yourself, to God, and to others in this season. You may have already been experiencing a wilderness or great hunger. I pray God speaks to you powerfully and shows you that he’s been walking alongside you the whole time. For on the other side of Satan’s voice is Jesus’ voice, quoting Holy Scripture, reiterating the goodness of God, and demonstrating his own dependence on the Father.

With you on the journey -

Jay+

As we behold the face of God in the face of Christ, we are transformed into his image. This is what it means to be fully human—to become like Jesus, the truly human one, and to grow more and more in the freedom of the children of God.