The temptation, of course, would be to retreat to the safety of neighboring countries. And, no one would fault any one of God’s faithful servants in Ukrainian churches for doing so. Protecting your family’s lives is definitely seen as a noble, holy, and loving act. But, as you may have seen on the news, many faithful followers of Jesus Christ are staying within their nation as bombings and artillery shells rain down. The pictures are inspiring as we watch people gathering around the word and meal of Jesus Christ while in underground shelters. There hope remains in Jesus.
Just as impressive, are the stories of the faithful followers of Jesus Christ who risk their lives each day by opening their churches to shelter the weak, and then head out into the dangerous streets in order to secure medicines and food for those who cannot venture out themselves.
In these faithful people’s actions we can see the unshakable hope that they find in Jesus Christ and his gospel. In these people we can see the love of God and neighbor in ways that we rarely see otherwise. In these people we can see the work of God’s Holy Spirit. It is present, sowing the seeds of good news in even the poorest of war-torn soils.
Never forget that he Holy Spirit is always there; present wherever the world cries out in pain and suffering. The Holy Spirit is always there, filling the lives of God’s people, and then leading them through the murky wildernesses of life.
The Holy Spirit was even present during those forty days when the Bible says that Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. Specifically, the Bible says:
“Jesus,
full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in
the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.”
There is this clear sense in the scriptures that Jesus would not have been prepared to face the trials of the wilderness and the devil had it not been for the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says that he was “full of the Holy Spirit” and that it was the Spirit that led him during his time of struggle and temptation.
Can we just stop right there and take a moment to let that soak in? When I face times of trial, struggle, and temptation, I usually react one of two ways.
The first, and most common reaction for myself, is the think it to death method of facing hardship. If there was a saber tooth tiger outside my tent back when our ancestors had to worry about such things, I definitely would have set my mind to thinking about a solution. If the tiger was kind enough to oblige, I would have definitely tried to face him with some really good, solid thinking. The tiger would have run in fear of all my thinking. Heck, I can take all night, thinking about a problem and still not have a solution in the morning…that is how devoted I am to thinking it through.
As you can guess, I would have been eaten by the tiger a long, long time ago.
And, in the case of the devil, he could have done his evil work and been on to something else by the time I finished thinking and developing a solution.
The second way I react in times of trial, struggle, and temptation is actually the complete opposite of the first. Sometimes, I just simply react without putting forth any effort of thought. When I drank a little too much the night before a very important theatrical contest, I am absolutely certain that I put zero thought into it beforehand. Trying to give the performance of your life on stage, while fighting off nausea because of the night before, simply was not thought through will at all.
As you can see, both these ways of reacting during times of trial, struggle, and temptation can have equally disastrous results, allowing the devil to have his way.
All that said, there is one approach that I often fail to try, but it is the one that Jesus used over and over again in his ministry and life. When faced with struggle and temptation, Jesus always relied of God’s Holy Spirit. I do not mean this to sound too holy and unreachable for the normal person. After-all, the Holy Spirit speaks to Jesus in a way that the Spirit still speaks to us today.
When completely famished and tempted to turn a stone into bread by the devil, Jesus clings to what the Spirit of God has to say through scripture. “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”
Do you see what the Holy Spirit did there? The Spirit made certain that there was a word of scripture present during the temptation. There was a word of hope right on Jesus’ tongue, as Jesus faced his trials. The Spirit was there for Jesus and filled him.
The Spirit was still present when Jesus was tempted to use his power for selfish reasons. He was told that he could have power over all the kingdoms of the world if only he would worship the devil.
Unfortunately, we are seeing real-time the destruction that this particular temptation of worldly power can tragically wield. Of course, we know that Jesus does not fall for this temptation, but have you ever realized that the Holy Spirit once again used scripture to keep Jesus away from the wrong path? “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
And, as before during the two previous times, Jesus refuses to fall for the devil’s temptation to have his heavenly Father save him from a deadly fall. After-all, does not scripture say that, “He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you.” You see, the devil can use scripture also. Beware; evil knows how to twist all that is good into something less than holy, righteous, and loving.
The Spirit’s guidance for Jesus during this particular temptation is quite striking when you look deeper. Jesus was placed on top of the Holy of Holies in the temple, and below what Jesus would have seen was the stone upon which the priests offered sacrifices. The smell of the sacrifices would have been wafting up to his hunger-wracked body. But, beyond the tempting smell of food, Jesus was tempted to force God to save him from smashing into the altar of sacrifice after a heavenly game of “Trust Fall.”
The devil assures Jesus that God will send angels to catch him so that his foot will not dash against the stone of sacrifice. Jesus is tempted to walk away from his own act of self-sacrifice on the cross. In other words, the devil tempts Jesus to back out of the life he is about to lead, and the tragic and painful end that it entails. “God will save you from the pain of the cross,” the devil is practically tempting.
Here is the reality. Sometimes the purpose that God provides will not be the peaceful existence for which we dream. Sometimes, it will include crosses, and it will include helping neighbors in war zones, and it will include walking with people until their last breath, and it will include giving up the good job for the sake of a little one, and God’s purpose for you will include so many other uncomfortable and potentially painful things, that we will constantly be tempted to not be a part of God’s work because the sacrifice is just too much. Would it not be better to drink iced teas while floating in a pool?
But, like Jesus who did not give into temptation, we too have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. We too have been filled with the knowledge of who we are and what we are about. We are children of God who seek, above all, to love God and neighbor. We are children of God who have been saved by the one who refused to walk away from our pain and hardship and sin.
And, we are children of God who have been given the gift of scripture. The Spirit will use scripture to lead us through the wildernesses into the heart of God. Filled with the Holy Spirit and guided by the scriptures, hopefully God will use us to reflect the same kind of self-sacrificial love shown clearly by the one who died on the cross so that we might live: Jesus Christ our Lord.
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