If you have joined me for this week of fasting, thank you. Today is the hardest day. There will be many distractions to your goals today. Maybe it’s all the chocolate around the office. Or that Dr Pepper in the fridge. Maybe that cheeseburger your co-worker is eating. Whatever it is, Satan wants to distract you from your relationship with God. He wants to make you feel like a failure. One bite and he wants you to give up and move on with your normal life. All the distractions around us, begging for our attention. It is almost like going through withdrawals. Today is the hardest day. It gets easier.
As Jesus entered Jerusalem, perhaps there were a lot of distractions and temptations. Look at all the people celebrating and worshiping him as he rode into Jerusalem. They treated him like royalty, like a hero. As he went through the temple and turned over the tables and cleared the temple, he cleared out his father’s house of everything that would be a distraction for the true worshipers. There are always things in our lives that draw our attention away from Jesus. Some of them seem like good things. Like those selling animals to make it more convenient for people to make their sacrifices. That seems like a good thing, right? Let’s make it easier for people to obey God and worship. But maybe we have made things too easy. Maybe we have made it so easy to worship God that it has begun to lose its meaning. I’m sure you have heard the saying, “the best things in life are the ones you have to work for.” As you work through the hunger pains and the withdrawals of whatever distraction you have given up for the weak, remember the reward at the end. Your relationship with God will grow through this weak and, yes, there will be food at the end.
I look forward to celebrating your victories with you on Friday.
Today’s Readings:
Matthew 21: 12-46
Psalm 71
Isaiah 42: 1-9
