Driven or Led

Last Sunday, we had the Gospel reading was the account of Jesus going into the wilderness following his baptism.  This was a time of preparation to begin his public ministry.  For those of us who are Christians, it is also is a summation of what we do in the season of Lent which is modeled after Jesus’ forty days and nights in the wilderness.  There is much which we can explore around this including what does it mean to be in a time of wilderness in our lives or what does it mean to do the traditional exercise of giving up something for Lent which, again is modeled on the forty-day fast that Jesus experienced before he had his encounter with that tempter extraordinaire, Satan.

What I invite you to consider today, whether or not you observe Lent, is the concept of following the spirit in your life.  Jesus was led or was driven – depending on which account in the Gospels your read – into the desert by the Holy Spirit after his baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.  Do you have a sense that your life is being influenced or guided by what could be considered a spirit or force in your life?  You may not identify this as the Holy Spirit or God by any other name.  It can be considered as something which has guided you in following a path which seems to have been laid out for you at an early stage in your life.

Whatever that influence is, there may be times when it seems to take you to places that you don’t really wan to go.  This was the case, I believe, for Jesus when he was – according to the Gospel of Mark – “driven” by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness rather being “led” according to Matthew and Luke by that same Spirit into that very unwelcoming environment.

There are times when we are led or driven or encouraged to go places by that influence - be it conscience or guilt or whatever – that we don’t really want to go  to do things or go places that we know we should be that are not going in our mind to be all that welcome or welcoming.  It is helpful to reflect on these experiences and try to understand why we are being encourage to go there and what it is that benefit we might receive by following that encouragement.  If we are honest with ourselves, we will probably know in our hearts that this is what we are intended to do. 

I would encourage you to follow that influence and see what happens.  You may find that you are blessed on your journey.