DAY 23- ANDREW SNEED

Day 23 – March 31, 2025

In Matthew’s telling of events, it is interesting that it is immediately following Jesus’s Baptism that he is “carried away by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1)  Is it possible that we are to consider the proximation of temptation from salvation? As pertains to Jesus’ life, the metaphor likely ends there – we cannot compare our worldly journeys to his…but to me, there is something striking that Satan chose this – of all moments – to tempt Christ. Is it evidence that there is – perhaps – an inherent vulnerability that accompanies freshly awoken, or invigorated, zeal?

My Wilderness story – what I – in hindsight – view as a time in the wilderness – stems from a time in my life I was most steeped in The Spirit…or thought I was. Around 9th / 10th grade – disillusioned by the choices that many of my youth group peers at the church I was raised in were making – what I viewed as blatant hypocrisy – I began searching for a faith that fit, with peers who “walked the walk.” 

I found just such a place. A dynamic and growing church – at the time still meeting in a strip center – but with a leadership on fire for the Lord with a manifest sense of predestination about its future. Our youth pastor couldn’t have been better – he met us where we were as teenagers striving to navigate the waters of being young men. 

Along with this open-armed acceptance – however – there was a reductionist narrative. Perhaps it’s the nature (or perils) of ministering to youth – but the faith story being indoctrinated was recalcitrant. The rigid constructs of (over) confidently conveyed biblical truths (“brother”) left me in judgment of all conflicting perspective. Generally speaking – I have a poor memory; but with chagrin, I all too clearly recall my 15-year-old self slamming my hand down on our family dinner table proclaiming with certainty about the crystalline clarity of who was going to Heaven, and who to Hell. Paradoxically, in the midst of this time that I was most on fire with the spirit, I was most ready to pronounce others’ damnation. 

A mere 3 chapters later Matthew famously cautions “Judge not, that you may not be 

judged. For with the same judgment that you judge, you will be judged, and with the same measure with which you measure, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:1-2). Fervor, absent wisdom, can be a dangerous thing. My zeal was not adequate to combat the natural questions that accompanied a maturing intellect (could God really send every non-Christian to hell??). Partially to tolerate my own life choices I did, indeed, largely abandon judgment of others. I became a fellow traveler with humanity. For better and for worse. 

If angels attended me – I didn’t see them. There was no single event that snapped me back. Rather – as I have grown – become a husband, and father, business owner – seeing and walking with older eyes and a sometimes more weary frame…what I am floored by is the constancy and profound depth of God’s love. Right here. In the desert. That is where we live, is it not? We are told throughout scripture of the influence of Satan in our world. We always trod shifting sands, but Jesus is our rock. Our faith – loud or quiet – is our rock.

We are in a reductionist – zealot American reality at present. An era of “simple solutions” and “angry judgmental truths.” As we head to the Easter of our Salvation, my wish this Lenten season would be that we could all endeavor to give up a modicum of judgment. To remember that we are actively – always – in the desert. That in our zeal perhaps we are in closest proximity to temptation. Yes, we must always stand on the rock of Christ – but even there we are all together in the desert.

– Andrew Sneed

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we are all susceptible to the temptations of the enemy, especially when we are in our mountaintop moments. How often have we worried about jinxing ourselves by being too happy, too positive, things going too well?  Just as Jesus was tempted after his glorious baptism, we can be tempted just when we feel closest to you. Help us to have the faith to work through the wilderness and back into the comfort of your loving grace. Amen.