Matthew 3 & 4 – Who are you listening to?
In Matthew chapters 3 & 4, it’s interesting to note all of the “voices” we hear:
- The voice of John the Baptist crying in the wilderness, declaring the need for repentance and denouncing the religious leaders;
- The voice of Jesus encouraging JTB to join Him in fulfilling all righteousness;
- The voice of God acknowledging Jesus as His son;
- The voice of Satan tempting Jesus;
- The voice of Jesus resisting Satan;
- The voice of Jesus calling disciples and preaching as He starts His ministry.
These chapters kind of describe what my mind is like sometimes:
- a voice calling for repentance and confession; denouncing any attempts at religious legalism;
- the voice of encouragement, urging me towards righteousness;
- God’s gentle reminders that He sees me and I am His child;
- temptation’s constant whispers nudging me towards selfishness and other-worship, towards anything other than God, away from righteousness.
My busy mind can talk myself into and out of the same action within 10 seconds. I can dance around a decision for years, trying to discern between all of the different stories I tell myself. Facebook/social media is a good example.
I’ve been thinking about ditching my accounts for 5 years now, yet I still stupidly check them multiple times a day. I feel the need to confess and repent from my choosing to spend the time unwisely. I feel Jesus’s encouragement to give myself grace but also that He has greater plans for my life and more important tasks for me to fulfill – like a life disciplined towards holiness. I hear God’s reminder that HE sees me, that HE is enough, that my worth is found in HIM, my identity is from HIM, not in the false connections I can feel from a Facebook “friend.” But, I am also overwhelmed by excuses and other assertions that I need to be connected; I will be forgotten if I don’t engage; I will be lost in the silence; I will realize that I am unloved, worthless, forgotten, nothing, if I don’t get that reinforcement from external likes and online interaction. My own insecurities and fears – as revealed by my social media and smartphone use – my seeking connection and identity from somewhere else, are temptation’s deceiving lures telling me that the life God has given me is not enough; the jobs God has for me to do are so challenging that they necessitate an escape from reality; God doesn’t really care how I spend my time….
These are the things I know and we can all learn from these chapters:
- We all need to confess and repent from our sins. This is NOT optional. When you have wronged God, this is the only way to proceed. Any time you feel an urge to confess your sins – and even those times when you don’t want to, but know you should – you need to do it!
- The only way to righteousness is through Jesus. The Bible is very clear on this. Jesus was sent to “fulfill all righteousness,” to fulfill the law, to be the propitiation for our sins. He is the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Him.
- There are only three voices we should submit to: God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. JTB submitted to Jesus, baptizing Him, even though JTB knew he was not worthy to tie Jesus’s sandals. Satan submitted to Jesus as soon as Jesus told him to leave. Simon/Peter, Andrew, James and John submitted to Jesus’s calling on their lives. Jesus submitted to the Spirit’s leading, and Jesus submitted to God’s will for His life. Discerning these heavenly voices is easier said than done, as we have seen throughout all of history. A lot of horrific things have been done by people claiming to hear the voice of God. We have to rely not only on scripture specifically, but also on our understanding of who Jesus was as a person and His character, and how the Holy Spirit reveals itself in scripture. The “what would Jesus do?” movement was a good step in this direction, I thought. Not just blindly repeating a line from the Bible – as anyone, even Satan can do – but really trying to think deeply about how Jesus would respond in a situation, based on what we know about who He was, what He was like, and the principles that were important to Him. This topic is so complex that it can’t fully be covered in a short note, but my point is that we must train ourselves to listen for the still quiet voices of the Holy Trinity, and we must submit. They can easily be drowned out by our own sinful natures, the voices of others, or the voice of temptation.
I promise I won’t think you’re crazy if you tell me about all the “voices” in your head! Which thoughts are loudest? Do you know when it is the Holy Spirit tugging on your heart? How do you discern whether a leading is from God or your own will? What do you do to defeat temptation? I’d love for you to share in the comments below.
