Fill up

I was thinking about the tradition of giving up something for Lent vs taking on something. It seems lately I hear/read more people commemorating by taking on something. I haven’t read about the history of the Lent tradition except that it is to remind us again of Jesus 40 days in the wilderness. What frequently seems to be omitted is that Jesus was filled with Holy Spirit preceeding his wilderness experience. The wilderness time for Jesus was a time of total unity in the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were all fully present and the angels were there as well. Imagining the scene, I also recall the visions in Revelation of God’s glory surrounded by heavenly hosts praising him and saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy”.

In the wilderness Jesus did not give up anything. He was filled and was - everything.

The wilderness is a time of filling. As it is written in Luke 11:24-28, if our home is swept clean, it cannot be left empty or evil will fill it with greater evil than before, but blessed our those who hear the word of God and obey. This is what the wilderness is about: hearing the word of God and then obeying. This is where we understand that Jesus spent time praying and communicating as One with the father, filled with Holy Spirit. The devil, ruler of this world, is powerless to affect God. It was 3 simple propositions which Jesus gave to the devil: Man can not live by bread alone, Worship and serve God only, and do not test the Lord.

As humans, many see the wilderness as the example of how Jesus was tempted by the devil at His point of ultimate weakness and then wins out. This makes the story into more of a myth and lends new or fragile Christians into thinking that they must give something up (relating this to Jesus fasting) and then at their weakest point thanking God for Jesus as Savior as they succumb to the temptations by the devil: i.e. they eat the ice cream! Then they can say that they are weak and go on with their ice cream or what have you.

That is not what this story is about. It is about us connecting with God through Jesus through emptying ourselves and filling with Holy Spirit through prayer and then with understanding we go forth and worship and serve the Lord in obedience to His Will.

That is what I think....