Author: Isaiah Crockran - Chapel Coordinator
Scripture: Luke 4:1-13
For the longest time I have needed focus. Sure, this could apply to school, work or ministry, but neither of those things are what I mean here. As I meditate on what I know about Christ’s preparation for ministry, I cannot get out of my mind images of our Lord and King in a desert, deprived of food, cold in the night, fainting of exhaustion in the day, and praying. He never stopped praying. We understand from scripture that Jesus was in communion with the rest of the Godhead in the wilderness. He was led there by the Spirit. He fasted and prayed there. He prayed to His Father, to whom He had submitted Himself in going there, in coming to earth. The fullness of humility and the absence of pride is how we identify the willingness of Jesus to commit to a 40-day spiritual laboring period for the sake of humanity.
Nothing about those 40 days resembled pride. Nothing. There was nothing that Jesus could do in His own strength. And although Jesus could have done virtually anything to Satan when tempted, He command Satan to adhere to a righteous perspective of the Father’s written word. Satan had come to test and see if Jesus was the Christ, but as soon as Satan understood that he was truly in the presence of the Word incarnate, he fled. He approached the Lord in arrogance, conceit, and pride, but he fled in submission, fear, and panic. It was natural for him to flee. Pride cannot stand firm in the presence of God. A true acknowledgement of the Sovereign Lord causes everything and everyone to behave in submission to Him.
I cannot stop focusing on flooding my life with humility and drowning out pride. We live in a struggle where we are trying to humble ourselves to the One who humbled Himself all the way to His last drop of blood on a cross. Before that, He was beaten. Prior to that, He was betrayed. Long before that, He was hungry in a desert. How do we “become less” when He has already been the least and the greatest among humanity? I suppose it is through true humility that we can ever understand our role in the Gospel message. As we focus on following Christ and straying from pride, we should hope to find the same comfort that Christ did when he hungered in a desert.
Prayer For Today:
Our Humble Lord, thank You for Your submission to the Father’s will. Thank You for the things you have done to set the stage for us to live in the fullness of humility, and to experience the complete joy that you deliver into our hearts when we pursue it.
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