Into the Desert

"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness." Matthew 4:1

The Spirit drove Jesus into the desert, which is often a place where we are forced to confront ourselves. Jesus faces appetite - fasting for forty days, approval - the devil asking him to jump off the temple so that everyone would be impressed, and ambition - the devil offering to give all the nations to Jesus to rule. For Jesus, the desert was that place where his character was tested.

It's not that appetite, approval, and ambition are inherently evil. They can, however, come to dominate our lives, if left unchecked. The scripture and our own experience are full of examples where one of these temptations run unchecked and cause untold damage.

Lent is the period of preparation for Easter. God's gift to us in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the sending of the Spirit is life in all its fullness. It is a place where we confess that there remains an undertow in daily life which carries us away into excess. We participate in Jesus' pilgrimage to the desert to allow God to refine our character.

Many times, we give up something during lent. Not to make a big show of how spiritual we are, or to earn our way to more favor from God, rather it's a practice to empty ourselves in order to be filled by the Spirit of God.

The Christian faith promises new life; life in all its fullness to those who open themselves up to God, emptying themselves so that they can be filled with the life that flows from God.

The Christian Lent is not a time for reinventing yourself by trying harder. It is a time for opening up to God and seeing through some of the shadows inside us. Jesus the Anointed One faced a crescendo of temptations from desert, to temple wall, to high mountain. He saw through the daydreams about power and possession and emerged equipped by the Spirit for his work.

What will you give up in order for God to fill you up with the Spirit during this season of Lent?