We began last night (Tuesday), our first Lenten class in the series. It is titled “Jesus Makes the Difference.” The session was about the difference between Jesus and the devil specifically in the Gospel of Matthew 4:1-11. In the video, we heard that the voice of the devil (the call of the world to trust in the world and listen to ourselves thinking of our needs only), comes to us in times of silence, suffering, and vulnerability.

Here’s the rub, so does the voice of God come to us as well in the silence, in the suffering, and in our vulnerability. I would say that it is only in our vulnerability that we hear God. So which voice can we trust, and which voice can we discern to be God’s voice and not the world’s voice? God’s voice is the one that says, we are loved, that we are enough, and doesn’t demand a transaction except to love others. We trust the voice that doesn’t feed our fears and doesn’t ask us to deprive ourselves of our humanity or deprive anyone else of their humanity. We trust the voice that says, hurting someone else doesn’t heal us. Yes, we trust the one that says to be kind and forgiving to those around us and to ourselves. The voice of the world promises us (at a high cost) power and an abundance of lifeless things, and an illusion of immortality based on the subjugation and objectification of others; but God’s voice promises us life and freedom, beginning now and lasting always.