Years ago, when I was not yet a Christian, I stumbled across a small magazine called Weavings. It held essays on the Christian life. I remember reading it with some curiosity. Who were these people that believed these strange, totally irrational things about life and death and God? How did they think?

More than two decades later, one essay stands out to me. I believe it was by Wendy Wright. It focused on the story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert, told in the Gospel of Luke, chapter four. I was bowled over by her main point: that the temptations Jesus faced were those of power, prestige, and possession. 

I was bowled over because I recognized those temptations. They didn’t just live in the Bible. They lived inside of me. I wanted to control that which was beyond my control. I wanted to be respected by my community. I wanted to own things that were not mine to own. It was one of the first times I realized that the Bible wasn’t about dusty hypothetical possibilities from a long time ago. It was a story that included me too, here and now.

A few years later, I became a Christian and sought to be baptized. I was still a Unitarian Universalist, but at my request, my service of baptism included the threefold renunciation of the devil. By then I had realized that to resist evil is the work of day-by-day faith. I have been trying to live into those promises every day since.

Now, I am one of those people that believes strange and totally irrational things about life and death and God: I believe that God in Christ has conquered all evil, yet also that I am called to resist evil daily. I believe hell is eternal death in separation from God, and I believe God desires life and health for all Creation. I am still trying to understand what it means to be a Christian. Thanks be to God, this is a well worn path, and I am not alone. Jesus said “no” in the desert and through his grace, we can too.