Sowing Faith

 Sowing Faith

 “Worshiping the Lord is sacred; he will always be worshiped. All his decisions are correct and fair.  They are worth more than the finest gold and are sweeter than honey from a honeycomb.  By your teachings, Lord, I am warned; by obeying them, I am greatly rewarded.” Psalms 19:9‭-‬11 CEV

 The gospel message on the first Sunday in Lent is on the Temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus was led into the wilderness right after his baptism after his identity as the Son of God was revealed. He was tempted to worship Satan through the sins of lust and greed:

“Finally, the devil took Jesus up on a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms on earth and their power. The devil said to him, “I will give all this to you, if you will bow down and worship me.” Matthew 4:8‭-‬9 CEV

But Jesus overcame the temptation with God’s Word, the Sword of the Spirit, and answered:

“Go away Satan! The Scriptures say: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’ ” Matthew 4:10 CEV

Likewise, when we commit ourselves to live out our identity of the children of God, we have to be prepared to go through the spiritual wilderness where we will face distraction, discouragement and deception by the forces of evil. God’s seed of faith cannot take root in a hardened, deceitful heart that is like a path. We need the spiritual discipline of meditating on God’s Word to transform our stony and disobedient heart into a fleshy and responsive heart. We need to hunger and thirst for God’s Word which is sweeter than honey and more precious than finest gold. The teachings of scripture are to warn us about the temptations of evil as well as to empower us to overcome them through God’s promises of His providence, power and presence.

Lent is a time to prepare our hearts for God to sow the seed of faith. The discipline of fasting is not an act of penance or a ritual to secure God’s blessings but a symbolic action to express our desire for the Kingdom of God. Our physical hunger and thirst are to draw us to satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst through prayer and meditation. Instead of filling our stomach with food and allowing our appetite to be a god we can feed our souls with God's Word.

It is our desire to love God that will keep us from desiring pleasure, power and possessions. But without feeding on God’s Word and seeking God as much as we seek physical food, we will slowly  and surely drift away from God’s presence through discouragement, deception and distractions. Our heart will then be hardened into a path where God’s seed of faith cannot take root. To build faith, find joy and create hope I need to hunger and thirst for God’s Word as well as to make time with God a priority each day.

Lent is a time to reflect on the changes in the story of my life that I need to undertake especially in the autumn of life. It is a time to recognize the reality of spiritual warfare. I will tempted to be the author of my life - to be the master of my own destiny. But to do so is folly as there is no way I can be in control of my future.

Jesus is God’s S.O.S. (Story Of Salvation) and we are invited to be part of God's beautiful Story - to live out the mystery and miracle of God’s Love that is revealed in the teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Lent is a time to let God be the Author of my destiny and purpose and for me to be just a pencil in His Hands.