We know as we look back to this occasion that Jesus was about to begin his earthly ministry. Can we draw the conclusion that we might also face seasons of temptation before we are released into new levels of ministry?

The final temptation was a temptation for Jesus to receive power and glory if he would fall down and worship the devil. It came right on the heels of two other powerful temptations. Yes, temptations. Hebrews records for us that Jesus was tempted in all points as we are, yet he never succumbed to the temptations. He never sinned.

So imagine Jesus after forty days and forty nights of fasting. Tired. Lonely. Hungry. And here comes a third temptation.

Power and glory belong to Jesus. They are rightfully his. Yet Satan tried to get Jesus to receive what was rightfully his by short cutting God’s plan. "Just do it the easy way. You can have the glory and power now. Just worship me."

This wasn’t a new song and dance for Satan. He was kicked out of heaven for the same issue.

Jesus answered the temptation by saying "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve."

If Jesus needed to use the Word to face temptation successfully, we also must know and use the Word of God in order to pass the tests that come our way.

Notice that he didn’t command Satan to leave him after the first two temptations. But now, he knew it was time. He spoke in authority. He knew this season of temptation was over.

"Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him." Be encouraged if you are in a season of temptation. There is a designated end to the season and when it comes, the forces of evil will leave – for a while- and God will minister to you.

A time for every purpose under heaven:

…A time to embrace,

And a time to refrain from embracing;

Ecclesiastes 3

Ever tried to hug someone and felt their refusal to accept your embrace? Perhaps they stiffened up or went limp or distanced themselves and you knew that for whatever reason, they were not okay with your embrace.

It’s not always easy to embrace. Embracing involves risk and implies willing acceptance, whether another person, an idea, a view, yourself, your circumstances, or maybe your history.  Usually our refusal to embrace has more to do with our own selves and our own heart than with whatever or whomever we refuse to embrace.

As of late, I’ve been thinking about how at times it has not been easy for me to embrace myself.  I’ve been finding that my ability to love others and embrace them is dependent upon my ability to embrace myself.

Sometimes when we who are followers of Christ begin to understand that the Word says we must deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Jesus, we forget that Jesus also said we are to love ourselves as we love others. And to be able to accept both of those truths at the same time seems impossible. So we try to choose one or the other of the truths and find ourselves off balance.

One of the beautiful things about Jesus is His ability to be both/and at the same time. For example, He is both mercy and truth. We humans have difficulty being mercy and truth at the same time. Christ both accepts our struggles and challenges them, and yet it is more difficult for us to do the same. As humans, we have difficulty being both/and.  We can’t figure out how to deny ourselves and love ourselves at the same time. We find it hard to love ourselves for who we are at that moment and yet believe in and hope for who we will become. We are challenged to love others for who they are presently and yet believe and hope in who they will become.

I spent a lot of years denying myself, or so I thought, but what I was really denying was my fears, my struggles, my pain. That is quite different than denying yourself. To deny one’s selfish instincts, one’s desire to manipulate others, one’s lack of compassion, etc., is completely different than denying one’s heart. 

I’ve spent a lot of time in the past two years learning to accept my own heart.  I’ve been learning how not to deny reality, whether it be the reality of my own history or the reality of my present circumstances. And in doing so, I have been learning to love myself. I’ve had moments when I looked at my own childhood and had to say, “That wasn’t okay. That wasn’t right.” So my embracing has been not an embracing of the bad things but of my heart in those moments.

Brian Andreas, who has a line of art called Story People, wrote something I love for a piece of art called Open Heart. He wrote this verse,  “He told me one time he forgot himself and his heart opened up like a door with a loose latch and he tried for days to put it all back in proper order but finally he gave up and left it all jumbled up there in a pile and loved everything equally.”

I framed that piece of art and hung it on my wall. I must admit that sometimes people read it, scratch their heads, and go, “Huh?” But for me, it is a description of loving my process of learning to love myself.

Well, I realize I am being somewhat philosophical this morning, but I believe that for some of you, today is going to be an “aha” moment for you.  You will be challenged to be true to yourself. You will be challenged to love yourself and in doing so, you will find that you can begin to understand, ah, perhaps embrace, what Jesus said.  You can begin to truly love others because you love yourself. As you offer kindness to your own heart, you can truly offer kindness to the hearts of others. As you begin to look back at your own story and have compassion for yourself in your struggles, learning perhaps that you were wounded or scared or abandoned or unloved, and have compassion for yourself at that past moment, then you can begin to embrace your story. I am finding that it is in my story that I discover the keys to who I am today and who I am destined to be for it is my story that empowers me to touch the lives of others.

So dear believer, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is not impossible at all. Difficult perhaps, but not impossible. Your mission is to embrace. Yourself first.  Your flaws, your failures, and your glory. Then others. And in doing so you will fulfill the second commandment of Christ, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”  In fulfilling the second commandment, we can better gauge how well we are fulfilling the first, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your mind, and your soul,” for loving God results in loving others and loving ourselves.

There is a time to embrace and it is today. Fling wide your arms to embrace. Open the latch on your heart, let it all tumble out, and love it all equally, have compassion on your own heart and the heart of others and perhaps you will find God’s heart in the process.

A time for every purpose under heaven:

    A time to be born,

                And a time to die;     Ecclesiastes 3

We, as humans, live with the knowledge that one day we will die.

Maybe I am thinking about this since I am about to have my 50^th birthday. Now I am not planning to die anytime soon, but I am beginning to live with the realization that I am aging. I must admit it is bothering me a little. I have told all my friends and family that there better not be any black balloons at my birthday party. I may be aging, but I am not dying and I do not want to cry at my party.  

Some of my family and friends have been asking me what I’d like to receive as a gift on this special birthday.  When my daughter-in-law asked what I wanted, I gave her the name of an anti-aging cream!  

I don’t think of myself as, well, older.  In some ways, I still think I am that invincible teenager who could fearlessly climb to the top of a cheerleading pyramid.  Surely I am still that young girl who woke up at 6 a.m. ready to conquer the day and needing no coffee to do so.  

But I have come to accept, reluctantly, that my body is aging. I have joints that ache, mostly from jumping off pyramids!  And my body says that it would have been much wiser to have taken better care of it before now.

It is difficult to live with the realization that everyone eventually dies when you are very young.  But as we age, we begin to have this understanding  that are bodies are temporal, and yet we believe and know that we are more than just a physical body. We are body, soul, and spirit. 

 So as I find myself about to turn 50, I also find that my “inner person” is becoming more alive, more understanding, more fulfilled, more confident.  I recently read an interesting study from a group of sociologists at the University of Chicago which found that senior adults are more content than any other age group – despite their aches, pains, and accumulated losses. The study stated that the odds of being happy increased 5 percent with every 10 years of age.

I noticed this recently at our church. We had a class on ballroom dancing. It was beautiful to see those who are slightly my senior having so much fun as we ventured out from ballroom dancing to the Electric Slide.  I could just sense their confidence in themselves.  Despite a few aching joints, they went for it! And they went for the Cupid Shuffle, and the Swing, and anything else that was thrown at them.  At times we laughed until tears ran down our cheeks, and I could sense the joy and contentment in my older friends.

So even though I am not a senior adult, and I refuse to accept any of those senior adult discounts, I find a sense of being content in my own skin at 50 that I didn’t have at 30. (Suddenly I am finding a new confidence in Dillard’s department store.  They have an ad that plays over the sound system declaring, “Did you know that 50 is the new 30?”) I  find that I am less concerned about what others think and more at peace with my own heart. I find that as I realize there is a time to die, I long to make a difference in the days I live. People are more important than things, and enjoying the present moment is easier. I realize, in a new way, that my life is about my relationships with God, others, and myself. 

I am living more with purpose in mind. As the puzzle pieces of life snap together, I see the picture more clearly.  I take more time for enjoying people and less for work.  

I guess I am growing up. My dreams are less about success and more about living. I am planning new things, like going to Thailand to help with the work in ministering to young girls who have been sold into the sex slave market. I am less content to live for less than something purposeful.

Because there is a time to die, I want my life to count.

I have been gripped recently by the thought that when I die and my life is reflected upon by others (hopefully!), what would I want that to look like? If I live with dying in mind, how would that change the way I live? If I could write my own epitaph, what would I say? And could I live that epitaph?

So as a challenge to myself and as a way to set my mark on my goal, here is what I would want it to say.

She loved well

And lived fully

She never ceased to grow emotionally, mentally, and spiritually

Although she has now changed worlds,

Before she left she changed us

By learning to live in peace

And purpose

With integrity

And courage

Regrets, imperfections, pain, and failure

Led her to live in grace and love, mercy and kindness

As she lived learning to love herself and others

With the love which now has transformed her to heaven

Where she is completely free and fully alive

So if I can write my epitaph (It will have to be a big tombstone; you know I don’t write short stories!), I pray I can learn to live it. Okay, I admit that I have an issue with control but I release my family ahead of time from any real expectation of using my pre-written epitaph. 

What would you want your epitaph to say?  Perhaps some of you will take the time to write your own epitaph and set your mark on living it as well.