I have been stuck in Luke 4, in the wilderness with Jesus. He was alone there, but He was also led there. It says, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.” It is when we are alone or in a dry place when the Devil attempts to derail us. In my last post I wrote about the first temptation of Jesus. If you missed it check it out. In this post I will move on to the third temptation.
While Jesus was in the wilderness fasting and praying, Satan took Him to the temple to convince Him to throw Himself off the top of the temple. This wasn’t about a suicide attempt, this was the temptation to do something spectacular, something noteworthy.
How many times is leadership celebrated as the one who is most gifted, or the charismatic personality? I hear many times people gloat on their church because they have such a gifted pastor. “He is such a great teacher,” or “He just really cares deeply about the people.” This is great in all, and I am all for using our gifts, however this temptation to be spectacular is a real thing and it tends to often leave God out of the picture.
God didn’t create us because He needed us. It is a sobering thing to realize that we are not necessary in this world. I might get some disagreements in the comments concerning this statement, but we really are not necessary. God chose out of His abundance to bring us into the world and give us something to tend to, not out of necessity.
Especially those of us in leadership, we tend to think unless we get what we need to done the world wont go round. “If I wasn’t here our ministry would fall apart.” “Without me giving my expertise, the business would go under.” Or husbands/wives, “If I could just help my spouse see that he/she is (… fill in the blank) then things would be okay.” Or “I have to be the one to teach and train people because they will fail if I don’t.”
The temptation of Adam and Eve in the garden was to eat the apple with the promise that if they did, “they would be like God knowing good and evil.” Maybe they had a realization that the world existed before they came along and that God was completely capable to tend the garden Himself. Afterall, He did create the problem they were tasked with solving.
Realizing that I don’t need to be spectacular in order for things to be okay is a humbling thing sometimes. But realizing that the work before us is God’s work much before it is ours is a good place to be. It dethrones any need to be the MVP or the superstar.
The antidote here that Jesus leans into is trust. He says, “It is said, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” He decided to trust that God will do His part. He didn’t need to test that. Trust God today and resist the temptation to be spectacular or even just necessary.
