“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.”

At some point in life we will all think about or be asked; “If you were on a deserted island, what would be the items that you couldn’t live without?”  But, I can’t remember ever being asked, “If you could choose how to get to a deserted island, how would you want to get there?”  That’s because landing on a deserted island would not be a pleasant experience because most of us wouldn’t choose to be that secluded for the rest of our lives.  There is a phenomena that happens to us when we are alone for too long.  It’s called, “Ontological Insecurity”. After long enough a person will actually forget their own name and lose all sense of their own identity.  So, the idea of being on a deserted island is really not all that enticing.  But, it’s kind of what happens when in our work we alienate others and metaphorically end up on a self-imposed island.  There is more than one reason why being a good teammate is a good idea.

Twice we are told of Jesus’ isolation time for us. Once, when He spent 40 days and nights in the desert without food.  He also made the greatest separation for us when he was isolated from the Father for three days between His death and resurrection.  We are in the time of Lent when all around the world there are Christians who have denied themselves of something so that they can be daily reminded of the sacrifice that Christ made for us. And likely, we can feel alone in this action. What we know is that we are never alone and regardless of the island that we feel we are deserted upon He is with us each and every moment, never leaving us truly alone.

Reference:  Matthew 1: 1-2 (New Living Translation)