St James Church
Church Rd
Brownhills
West Midlands WS8 7AT
Tel 01543 372187
St James Church
Brownhills with Ogley Hay
Diocese of Lichfield
Minister Dave’s “Word” for March 2010
Luke 4:1-13 – A time of testing
Lent is a time when Christians through the ages have remembered Jesus’ time of temptation in the wilderness. It has also been used it as a period of reflection, often accompanied with prayer and fasting, on our own relationship with God. It is also a time when we allow God to speak to us, to reveal areas of our lives which we need to confess, deal with or to take up new areas He is calling us to.
But it won’t be easy, it never is. It is a struggle that we will often face throughout the whole of our lives and not just Lent. Often these feel like a wilderness experience. But Lent is a time when we can go through this together, sharing each others burdens and encouraging one another as we grow through these experiences and seek to overcome temptation.
It would so easy to assume that this would have been a relatively easy thing for Jesus. We can forget that Jesus was fully human, and as fully human He experienced the full breadth of human emotion including suffering and temptation. Far from the wilderness being a brief and minor inconvenience in His earthly ministry this was a very trying and difficult time for Jesus.
During this time he was severely tempted by the devil. This was no polite discourse on scripture and who Jesus was. This was the devil at his most powerful and soul destroying best. The temptations would have been subtle and persuasive.
We too will be tried and tempted by the devil, often when we are weak or our resistance is low. Looking at how Jesus dealt with it shows us how we too can resist the prowess of the evil one. When we are weak or feeling low then the temptation is to give up. When it involves our ministry and life within the church, it is so easy to give up working for the Lord and the extension of His Kingdom here on earth. It can be so subtle, that we may lower our sights, reduce our goals or aims and so we miss the mark.
That is how the devil works. In quiet and subtle means, chipping away without us often realising that is what is going on. This is why it is important for us to constantly focus on God and our relationship with Him, so that we don’t fall to temptation and the work of the devil. We need to keep the Lord and His mission firmly at the centre of our lives.
Like Jesus, we need to use our hearts and minds to seek and serve God. We need to use our intellect to discern what is right and proper. At the same time we need to use our hearts so that don’t sound cold and judgemental. Jesus is our example. There is nothing we can experience that He Himself has not experienced. He has been there and provides us with the model to follow. We also have His Spirit with us constantly to guide, equip and strengthen us as we journey through life.
Yours in Christ Dave Bishop (Rev)