First Sunday of Lent -- February 26, 2012
Mark 1:12 - 13
At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
I think of this as a kind of edge or boundary experience, moving to (or beyond) the limits of one's ordinary routine. These kinds of experiences tend to strip down the one who engages them. Very often, when the usual, ordinary baggage of one's life is taken away, there is a deeper sense of self and purpose. A certain clarity comes, so that we see ourselves, our lives, others, and the world in a new light.
These edge experiences don't always feel good, but they tend to be defining. I find it notable that the Gospels attribute this particular experience in Jesus' life to the Spirit of God, even as it includes temptation and testing. The agent of this stretching is God's Spirit, not the evil one who is trying to subvert him from stepping into God's design for his life.
My own life-experience is that God uses anything and everything to shape us as the people we were created to be. Even in difficulties, challenges and times of intense struggle, God is the One leading us, pushing us toward growth, and even prodding us toward wholeness. That seems to be God's goal for each human person . . . wholeness and union. Thus, for God, nothing is out of bounds in relationship with us.
For consideration today . . . Think about some places you have traveled, places that you would not have chosen to go on your own. They could be experiences of grief, cancers, unplanned moves, broken relationships, loss of job or home, etc. Notice two or three of those experiences from your life. As you look back on the experiences, how was God's Spirit leading you in ways that you did not see at the time?
[For example, one of the most painful breaking points in my life felt like a deep death to me at the time. When I look back on it now, that experience freed me in some ways I probably could not have chosen on my own. I would not have gone there on my own; God's Spirit, though, led me there.]
God's Spirit leads you into places you likely will not go on your own. Ponder that in your prayer.
At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.
I think of this as a kind of edge or boundary experience, moving to (or beyond) the limits of one's ordinary routine. These kinds of experiences tend to strip down the one who engages them. Very often, when the usual, ordinary baggage of one's life is taken away, there is a deeper sense of self and purpose. A certain clarity comes, so that we see ourselves, our lives, others, and the world in a new light.
These edge experiences don't always feel good, but they tend to be defining. I find it notable that the Gospels attribute this particular experience in Jesus' life to the Spirit of God, even as it includes temptation and testing. The agent of this stretching is God's Spirit, not the evil one who is trying to subvert him from stepping into God's design for his life.
My own life-experience is that God uses anything and everything to shape us as the people we were created to be. Even in difficulties, challenges and times of intense struggle, God is the One leading us, pushing us toward growth, and even prodding us toward wholeness. That seems to be God's goal for each human person . . . wholeness and union. Thus, for God, nothing is out of bounds in relationship with us.
For consideration today . . . Think about some places you have traveled, places that you would not have chosen to go on your own. They could be experiences of grief, cancers, unplanned moves, broken relationships, loss of job or home, etc. Notice two or three of those experiences from your life. As you look back on the experiences, how was God's Spirit leading you in ways that you did not see at the time?
[For example, one of the most painful breaking points in my life felt like a deep death to me at the time. When I look back on it now, that experience freed me in some ways I probably could not have chosen on my own. I would not have gone there on my own; God's Spirit, though, led me there.]
God's Spirit leads you into places you likely will not go on your own. Ponder that in your prayer.
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