An Invitation to Walk in the Wilderness with Jesus

Worry-free life is what we would like to have. Yet worry-free life requires some work. In order for us to have a worry-free automobile, we need to keep up with proper maintenance; oil changes, tire rotations, etc. Everything in God’s creation requires care and upkeep in order to be all that it is meant to be. Like our technology, the human soul is not maintenance free. More than the physical need for food and shelter, one needs discipline and opportunity for growth in order to fulfill God’s purpose for that person. But how does one do maintenance work on a soul? What happens if it isn’t done? Who does this work? These questions are answered in the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. It begins with the words, “Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness” (Luke 4:1-13, NKJV). In other words, Jesus was in tune with the Spirit of God, obedient to the leading of God.

The Lenten season is an invitation to walk in the wilderness with Jesus: six weeks set aside to prepare each of us for Calvary and the Easter that follow. It is a forty-day period of “taking time out” as our Lord did, to take stock of our relationship with God, to be disciplined by him, and to grow stronger through him. A challenge to us during Lent is to proclaim to the world that we are not maintenance-free beings. We need to go into the wilderness to fast and pray-not only because we ought to, but also because we need to do it. Through physical hunger we become more attuned to our spiritual hunger for God. We realize our total reliance on Christ for all our needs, and we find joy in knowing he satisfies our hungers. In the wilderness God’s Spirit teaches us, making us wiser in discerning good from evil so we may see temptation for what it is, and resist it.

The challenges and discipline of Lent prepare us to grapple with the crises of life, so that when real trials come, with God’s help we are strong and ready to meet them. There is no such thing as a maintenance-free soul. Jesus demonstrated that during his forty days in the wilderness. During Lent he invites us to walk with him through the time of testing, all the way to Calvary and beyond.

In Christ,
Heasun Kim, Pastor