On Monday we began a three part series and listened to the passage about the baptism of Jesus. His cousin, John the Baptist, was baptizing people in the Jordan River and Jesus stepped up. He didn't need to be baptized to repent but He did need to be baptized "to fulfill all righteousness." You and I began our journey with Jesus by publicly embracing Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection in our own baptism. Today, let's continue in the series by listening to the next part of Mark's gospel narrative:

The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan for forty days. He was out among the wild animals, and angels took care of him. (Mark 1:10-13)

Wow. Immediately following His baptism, Jesus headed off into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. But it wasn't the devil who drove Jesus into the wilderness; Mark tells us that the Spirit "compelled" Him to go. In the days following my own coming to Christ, I had a very heightened awareness of the activities of the devil. Have you ever had that experience? I've always remembered something that Jim Covert, my pastor back in the 1970s, once said: "If you never have an encounter with the devil, then there's a very good chance that you, and the devil, are traveling in the same direction." When you and I come to Christ, it doesn't escape the devil's notice. He does whatever he can to derail us but then, in the midst of that experience, we learn that we can depend upon the Lord and overcome the devil's work. Today, are you struggling with a temptation the devil has put before you?

Let me encourage you to remember your baptism. Baptism isn't about what you do—it's about what God has done for you in Christ. He has redeemed you from the destructive power of sin and adopted you into His family. You don't belong to the devil at all; you belong to Jesus...and that is very Good News!