one step: Matthew 4.1

Formulas matter. If we follow the formula, the cookies will turn out right. If we follow the formula, the destination on the GPS will end up right outside our car window. If we follow the formula, graduation day will come. Formulas matter. Formulas work.

Formulas offer promises of things that humans need: consistency and confidence. The consistency of a formula promises that if a + b equals c, then the next time and the time after that, a + b will equal c. This consistency provides confidence that a result will come from certain efforts and movements. With the right amount of milk, flower, eggs, salt, sugar, butter, effort, heat, and time, delicious cookies will result every time.

Formulas always work because mathematics tells the truth about what we know and what we do not know. If you are like me at all, you have attempted cookies and ended up with tasteless biscuits, you have followed directions to the doughnut shop and only found surplus tires, and you have been less-than successful in school at times. How did the formulas not work?

Many times formulas fail us because we do not understand or we miss the variables. The worst cookies are the ones that are missing an ingredient. They do not turn out right because a variable was missed (cookies without sugar do not come out right… yes… sugar-free cookies are wrong).

In Matthew 4 we see Jesus in the desert, tempted by the devil. The devil invites a very hungry, fasting Jesus to turn stones into bread. The devil invites Jesus to use His power to satisfy His need for food. In this moment, Jesus resists this powerful temptation by replying with Scripture: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Can you imagine if much later, when faced with the multitude of hungry people, Jesus quoted this Scripture to the disciples? Can you imagine if Jesus thought that the formula that He needed to apply to hunger every time was to encourage the hungry person to live off of God’s Word?

This is what happens in life. We see God do something that is good and right, and we assume that we have found the formula. We go around telling hungry people to live off of God’s Word rather than feeding them. We look at our own lives with frustration when we feel that things do not come out as we planned. Sadly, and too often, in doing so, we leave out or misunderstand important variables.

The formula for Jesus is to listen to God and to do what He says. In one desert moment, God did not want Jesus to use His power to create bread and meet a need of hunger. In another moment, God very much wanted Jesus to use His power to create bread and meet a need of hunger.

The formula is not about bread or no bread; the formula is hearing God and doing what He says out of a place of belief.

Today, take just one step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take looks like abandoning your formulas. Maybe God wants you and I to humble ourselves enough to admit that we do not know all of the variables in our situation. Maybe God is asking you to be hungry for a season so that you can feed others later. Maybe God wants you to give up the control, confidence, and consistency of your formulas and just lean on Him.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

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*Insights on the temptation of Jesus: Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992.

one step: Matthew 4.0

The wilderness can be a hot, suffocating space by day and a cold, lonely prison at night. Words of negativity and temptation plague the soul as it grasps for an anchor in the storm of silence. No words from the Father come. No encouragement. Only the challenge to reject fresh words of temptation with sewn words of Scripture presents itself.

Perhaps this place feels familiar to you. Maybe you live in this space now. Whatever the case, Jesus found Himself in this space in Matthew 4. Tempted by the devil himself, Jesus had to reject these fresh words of temptation by holding fast to the Word of Truth sewn in His heart.

Curiously enough, as perhaps you know, the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into this space. It may seem harsh, unkind, or even devious, but God had a purpose in leading Jesus into the wilderness: clarity.

Nothing serves to provide clarity like the wilderness. In the wilderness, the comfort, glamor, and noise of normal life dries up like water through cracks in dry ground. All crutches break, demanding that we decide upon what we will truly lean on. Ultimately, behind the evil words of temptation comes this challenge: who will you be?

Jesus had just finished receiving the affirmation of the Father: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” In that moment, God established the Sonship of Jesus. Immediately after, the Holy Spirit lead Him into the wilderness to answer this question: what will it look like to live as the Son of God?

In the wilderness, Jesus had to answer these three questions:*

  1. Will you use your power to serve yourself?

  2. Will you do miraculous but pointless miracles?

  3. Will you establish a mighty empire to rule over the entire world?

The correct answers to these questions come from the Word of God, and Jesus answers accordingly.

Today, if you are in the wilderness, the invitation to clarify your mission stands before you. God is asking, “what will it look like for you to live as my son/daughter?” Will you use the call that I have placed on your life to serve yourself? Will you use the powers that I have given you for temporal, pointless endeavors? Will you seek to build your own kingdom?

There is much God wants to accomplish in our hearts in the wilderness, and though the enemy is present, the work is for our good. It sets the tone of a season of ministry that can bring the world around us to God. The difference between the temptation of the enemy and the testing of God is that in testing, God desires us to succeed. In tempting, the enemy seeks our failure. Press into God and His Word in the wilderness. He is cheering you on, though all you hear is temptation.

Today, take just one step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to embrace the season you are in. Maybe He wants you to answer the three questions above using God’s Word. Maybe the one step for today is to turn from the intent of the enemy and to seek what God is trying to do in this season. Perhaps today the one step is to ask God to bring clarity to your mission.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

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*Insights on the temptation of Jesus: Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992.

one step: Matthew 3.1

Life is full of moments that have the potential to create memories. Winter days give us opportunities to sled down hills on cardboard boxes. Summer afternoons set the stage for runs through sprinklers and popsicles dripping on sidewalks while we anxiously attempt to eat them down before the heat can take them away. Tragedies hold the unfortunate ability to scar our souls, break our trust, and inhibit our walk through life. Moments can create memories if we notice them, and sometimes we notice them whether we want to or not. Memories have the ability to shape the way we look at the world.

In Matthew 3, we see a moment in the life of Jesus that has the ability to shape the way we look at the world. In a moment, John the Baptist looks up from his work, perhaps expecting to see the next contrite soul stepping to the edge of the water for baptism, and he sees Jesus.

The response of John comes as a reflection of the humility in his heart: he insists that Jesus should baptize him.

The way Jesus responds creates an opportunity for a perspective-shaping memory: Jesus, who carries no sin, steps into the position of sinners. He steps into the waters of baptism. The beginning of the ministry of Jesus reflects the humility of the cross where He ultimately stepped into the place of us all.*

We can glean a lot from the story of the Baptism of Jesus, but today we have this moment: Jesus does not first come to us pointing a finger at our sin. He could have easily stood beside John the Baptist and shouted “repent!” Indeed, Jesus does call us to repentance, but in this moment, Jesus stepped into the waters as a leader. Humbly willing to go first into the place that He invites each of us, He led the way in righteousness being fulfilled.

Jesus calls us to repentance, but first, He wants you and I to know that He is right there with us, standing and welcoming us into the waters of transformation.

We must call the world to repentance, to experience a whole-life change, but first, we must let them know that we, like Jesus, are right there beside them.

Today, take just one step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is knowing that the name of Jesus, Immanuel, means that Jesus comes beside and before you to make a way for righteousness. Maybe today the one step Jesus invites you into is looking at the world through a Savior who does not condemn, but saves by leading the way to righteousness. Maybe today the one step is a decision to lead sinners to salvation by going first. Maybe in looking at Jesus differently, God invites us to look at ourselves differently. Maybe the step is to notice.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

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*Insights on the baptism of Jesus: Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992.

one step: Matthew 3.0

People change their minds all of the time. They head toward one restaurant with a meal in mind, see another restaurant, and change their mind to eat something else. They seek to get work done one way, weigh factors, and then take another approach in order to best achieve their goals. Children begin watching a cartoon on tv and then change their minds to abandon said show to play with toys instead. Changing minds happens all of the time.

In the time of Jesus, the Greeks had an understanding of changing one’s mind. The action came in the idea of repentance. Repentance, according to the Greek writings of the time, applied to any changed mind. Meaning, the act of changing one’s mind from a bad purpose to a good one or changing one’s mind from a good purpose to a bad one both qualified as a repentance. Repentance in the context of Greek thinking did not connect itself to morality or proximity to God.

In Matthew 3, we see John the Baptist hurl an imperative call to “repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” This call, unlike the Greek understanding of repentance, implied a change in mind that came as a change in life. He challenged the hearer to completely change the way of their life from evil to a new kind of living that touched every facet of their lives. The call of John the Baptist implored the hearer to a deeper level of transformation.*

This sounds good, and perhaps it inspires, but the core of our flesh, when challenged, may rebel with this simple question: why should I?

John explains that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He explains that a new rule and reign has come. Furthermore, John does not withhold the insignificance of his own role in the greater God-story. John explains that though this repentance that he asks may appear radical (and to the Greeks and to us it was and is), the real power and purification will come through the work of Jesus Christ.

From John’s words, a change of life (repentance) serves as a key component to the fantastic work of Jesus in our lives. This choice to changing the whole of one’s life opens the door to the work of Jesus to bring the Holy Spirit and fire.

Said plainly, we need to step into the repentance that John describes so that we can step into the work of Jesus to empower and purify our lives. This work looks like purpose. This work looks like power. This work looks like relationship with God.

Today, take just one step.

Maybe today the Holy Spirit is inviting you to repent. This repentance does not come as a simple decision to think differently, but it comes as an invitation to change the whole of your life. Maybe today the confession that you need repentance is a step of humility that God wants for you. Maybe you changed your mind about God at one point, thinking that He was not real, and now you think He is real. This repentance changed your mind, but have you invited God to change your life? Maybe you need to make this transformation known through the act of water baptism.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

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*Insights on John the Baptist: Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992.

one step: Matthew 2.1

If you sought to change the world, what would be the best way? Perhaps fame and notoriety might serve as key players in the advancement of your agenda? A top-down approach might prove effective as leadership drives the world, and culture comes from the top down. Credibility and a solid résumé might help as well. A first impression can come from what people have heard about you as much as what they experience of you.

These ideas resonate in our culture, but God had another way.

Matthew 2 shares a small note that Joseph settled in Nazareth with his small family (after fleeing to Egypt to escape the infanticide of Herod the Great). Matthew informs the reader that this small note holds great weight as its occurrence fulfills messianic prophecy about the Messiah, but there is something more in this statement that Matthew does not overtly share:

Had Jesus returned to Bethlehem to grow up, He would have carried an air of royalty as one who came from a royal city. His résumé would have provided many with an impression of messianic reputation and excitement. He would have had the résumé to accompany His expected ascension into world-changing leadership.

God called for something else. Jesus was raised in Nazareth, a place of less-than-great association and reputation. Scholars note that Nazareth was an obscure and unimportant town that would set Jesus up for contempt and rejection.*

God decided to change the world from the bottom up. Indeed, Jesus humbled Himself to the lowest place. He lived rejected and without résumé and yet fulfilled messianic prophecy and changed the world. He did this through a series of acts of obedience.

God does not ask us to change the world; He asks us to be obedient. He does not note our résumé, nor does He concern Himself with the strategies of our western society. The plans of strategy of man are countless, but the purpose of God will prevail.

Today, take just one step.

Maybe today you need to lay down your ambition. Maybe you need to ask God to forgive you for attempting to change the world through your own means and strategy. Maybe you need to choose obedience even if obedience looks like obscurity. Maybe you need to choose the obscurity of Nazareth when your own ideas look like the royalty of Bethlehem. The answers to your prayers may come from unlikely roads to unlikely places.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.

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*Insights on Nazareth and Bethlehem: Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992.