Matthew 4, part 2: Do I immediately follow?

Here's the link to the chapter again.

The second part of Matthew characterizes Jesus and his first moments as a public minister.

We first see that Jesus leaves Nazareth when he hears that John has been arrested. John sure means a lot to Jesus! In a surprising event, John to baptized Jesus--the God of the universe--which caused the Holy Spirit to come down an anoint Jesus and bring about his public ministry. Then, when John is arrested, Jesus basically goes out and picks up where John left off.

• Thinking/praying point: Jesus found a spiritual mentor, a spiritual father, a peer in John. Am I seeking a similar relationship? I pray that God would bring someone into my life to pour into me and lead me spiritually to act on God's role in my life more tangibly. I feel that I have been aching for that kind of relationship for as long as I can remember, so I hope that I'm receptive to it and make time for it when God finally presents it to me.

Another important thing to consider in the first part of Matthew 4 (when Satan tempts Jesus) is that Jesus was tempted in the desert, he was beckoned to fall from God, he was promised the world if he abandoned eternity--all BEFORE he began publicly spreading the "good news." I think this is a lesson that, often, the rotten things that can happen in our lives ultimately make our stories and our passion for God greater. The "good news" we can share is even better if it was preceded by bad news.

• Thinking/praying point: Can I use the bad things that may have happened to me to make my testimony stronger? How can the temptations that I have resisted, and even the temptations that I have failed to resist (my sins), make God's power and strength and love more perfect?

The rest of Matthew 4 outlines Jesus' first disciples and his first sermons where he healed the sick and gleaned great crowds from lands that had previously been "in darkness." It's so funny to me that, when Jesus approached Simon, Peter, James, and John, the Bible says that they, "Immediately left and followed him." I'm trying to picture myself at work, doing my speech therapist thing, and someone coming up and saying, "Hey, come with me to spread the word." I would probably be like, "Um...come back and talk to me when I've clocked out." Perhaps that land was so much in darkness that Jesus' light was extremely easy to discern, but I think we live in pretty "dark" times, and I'm still not sure that my response to Jesus is that immediate.

• Thinking/praying point: I pray that my response to the gospel is immediate and strong, no matter what I am doing or who I am talking to. I pray that I don't compartmentalize my life into work, relationships, prayer, etc to the point where my spiritual life doesn't influence the my physical life. God's love and Jesus' story is an anywhere, anytime, drop-everything kind of thing!