On the Way

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did.  Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.  John 21:25

 This is how John closed out his Gospel.

We really don’t know very much about Jesus’s first thirty years on earth.  We know a little bit about a baby in a manger, the trip to Jerusalem when Jesus was twelve, and that’s pretty much it.  The next thing we read is that adult Jesus comes to be baptized by John.  

From that point, there were 40 critical days that followed.  These were the days which immediately preceded the commencement of Christ’s earthly ministry.  These were important days of preparation, but they were not enjoyable days for Him.  They were hard days.  

Most of us are familiar with hard days.  Perhaps, you’re in a season of life where all of the days feel hard.  You may be frustrated, confused, or simply lacking direction.

I invite you to journey with me and explore those “in-between” days that Jesus spent in the wilderness.  He had left home and set out to start His earthly ministry, but he hadn’t arrived yet.  On His way to do what He was made to do, the Holy Spirit took Jesus on what we might consider a detour.  This was not, in fact, a detour.  He wasn’t going out of His way.  This experience was ON the way.  And the way led straight through the wilderness.

My prayer is that as we explore these forty days with Christ in the wilderness, we will find insight and understanding to apply to our own lives.  If God did not shelter His own Son from the wilderness but in fact led Him there, clearly the wilderness is a necessary experience.  We may not like the wilderness, but we will experience it, if we desire to follow Christ.

Whatever it is that God is calling you to do, whatever the dream may be, whatever it is that you are hoping for…  Whatever it is, there is a pretty good chance that the path from here to there is going to lead you through the wilderness.

And so we have a choice.  We can stay right where we are, in our familiar - but possibly frustrating - present circumstances.  Or, we can set our sights on the limitless future our Eternal Father has set before us, and prepare ourselves for a life of impact – beyond the wilderness.

...Just a thought...