 In our Gospel lesson today we read about Jesus’s Temptation in the wilderness. Almost immediately after his baptism, Jesus is lead into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to fast and pray for forty days after which time he is tempted by the Devil. I don’t know about you but if I were writing this story I would much prefer the Spirit to lead Jesus away from the Devil and not towards him. Good thing then that I am not the writer of this story. For if Jesus had led a life of privilege and been shielded from the Devil he never could have understood what it’s like to be you and me. Filled with the Spirt of God, Jesus is able to resist the Devil’s testing and in doing so brings glory to God. . The good news is that the secret to Jesus’ success in resisting temptation is no secret at all. His secret weapon is our secret weapon and comes through the gift of the Holy Spirit which we received at our Baptism. Filled with the Spirit, Jesus shows us that the only way to resist the devil is to trust in God and to make it a priority always to do things His way. In Matthew 6 Jesus tells us to, _“Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.” Jesus resists the devil’s temptations, not because he needs to prove how good he is, but rather he does it to show us that by trusting in the Spirit we are able to stand against the devil too. Till next time. Andrew Download this weeks pew sheet pdfComments are closed.
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Rev. Andrew SmithVicar of Light in the Hills |