“While I kept my silence, my body wasted away through my groaning... Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity... you are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance.” -Psalm 32
“Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil... Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only God.’” -Matthew 4:1-11
The story at the center of our look for love this week is the story of the temptation of Jesus in the desert after his baptism. We see the futility of looking for love in the things that only provide temporary satisfaction - in seeking empty highs, tempting fate, and in mindless adoration. Rather, as Jesus demonstrates, it is in our resistance to evil that we find true communion with God. Resistance to evil starts with our own confession of complicit acts that move us further from love. Our groaning can turn to “glad cries of deliverance” as we choose good over evil time after time - even and especially if it isn’t the “popular” thing to do.