Eyes Wide Open: 40-Day Lenten Devotional Sample

Laying Aside That Which Takes Our Eyes Off Jesus

“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him …. [and] took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”’ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.” – Matthew 4:1-4a; 8-11

As you come to the Lord today during this Lenten season, let me remind you that another way of saying verse 10 could be: “Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “You shall reverentially worship the Lord your God and service-fully worshipHim only.”’” 

We know that the essence of worship is a daily life of lived-out, minute-by-minute reverencing and responding (in service) to the One, True, and Living God—the God who has revealed himself in the Lord Jesus, and whose Spirit has sealed us in him through our repentance from sin and faith in him (e.g. Eph. 1:13-15).

Stop this moment and ask yourself . . .

· What is it I really admire, desire, pursue, and serve?

· What are the things I think will truly give me “the good life”?

· What is it, deep in my soul, that I imagine will really give me the greatest satisfaction? 

Then mull over these questions: 

· Are those deepest desires sourced in my visceral reliance on a core faith conviction that God, beyond any other, is the only one to provide for me that sort of satisfaction?

· If not, are those aspirations, hopes, and longings things that might be, as the passage above reveals, in “the kingdoms of the world and their splendor”? 

If so, then during this Lenten season of reflection, I challenge you, like Jesus in the wilderness, to lay these aspirations, hopes, and longings at the feet of God. Confess your sin of substituting these pseudo-satisfactions for the real substance of seeking the presence of God himself. And throw yourself repeatedly into his arms of love, life, and safety. 

Then ask him to increase the capacity of your awareness of his reality, provision, and protection—even if you can’t see everything clearly this moment. Fall before him in worship, ready to respond to his promptings. 

And, if you wrestle with any issues, lay these aside and approach him in practical worship, then you will see his provision, in his time; mercifully and miraculously. 

Prayer:Lord, you are the supreme one, and I bow this moment before you … in worship and thanksgiving. Have mercy on me as I praise you and thank you for all you do for me. Amen.

- Written by Byron Spradlin