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Temporary change can be purchased by life coaches, gurus, and therapists who focus on those areas that need work. If we want permanent transformation, a superficial life hack won’t suffice. 75% of New Year’s resolutions fail by March not because of will power (that’s a symptom), or that our focus wanes (also a symptom), but because we haven’t changed in the depth dimension.

Changing behavior is superficial and will always be short lived. If we energize our emotions, our will activates and we get further but our affections dissipate like a tire with a slow leak. And then one day our ability to get “jazzed up” doesn’t work and progress stops. The depth dimension includes our intellect which is the antecedent to our affections, and prior to that, our grasp of truth, which functionally includes our faith. This series will help us with where change actually begins, back at the headwaters of our life…within our identity.

The desert of isolation is where our identity is tested, just as it was for Jesus. Nobody skips this step. Before we enter our adult life, we were offered a world with a thousand kingdoms. As we surveyed them, we weighed pros and cons, how much effort, level of difficulty, amount of fun, how much time until we get what we want, and then we picked our task master. We sought out institutional powers that would confer on us legitimacy, validation, worthiness, a name and an image not our own, but one we were hoped to get. Now we identify ourselves as: lawyer, father, influencer, etc…

If we want 2025 to bring change, we must go back to this moment where we didn’t know better. Along with our fake ID, we gaze at the riddle in the mirror and identify those surface things we want to change. “I’m fat or unhealthy, I’m broke and in-debt, I have no real loving relationships, I squander my time, I haven’t done anything with my life.” These are not surface level life-hacks, identity portals through which we perceive that we are missing life. Our true self found in God, will reject the world system’s indelible mark on how we think (forehead) and what we do (right hand). If we want our life back, we must go back and follow the Master’s steps. This alone will fix our faith by placing it on the real and lasting foundation. Otherwise, the tattoo of the Beast is inevitable.

I always talk about Christ following compared to religion. In this series, we are going to literally follow the life of Christ, and each week the scripture will illuminate what’s next for us on our journey to a true life and self. My goal is not so much a hermeneutic, nor a biblical anecdote. I seek to bring all comers into the discovery that Christ’s life is playing out in all of our lives. I desire to contextualize scripture in a way that allows us to get the “do-over” we perceive we need.

“You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:22)

We begin following Jesus’ baptism, where a voice from Heaven makes this powerful identity statement. Our lessen from this is that everything grows out of “ONTOLOGY”, our identity, our being, who we are. We are not the Son of God, we are sons and daughters of man, but we are made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). God is love (1 John 4:8) and we are his beloved. We ARE the Beloved. That is our identity. The kingdoms (institutional powers) of this world don’t teach us this. They don’t want us to know who we truly are.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love…” (Jeremiah 31:3)

“Lifestyle design” is a buzzword for how we can supposedly architect a dream life…if we pay the ferryman. Looking upon all the kingdoms is what got us here, we must start by letting aspirations go. We must start with their death in mind. Jesus said: “Anyone who would save his life will lose it.” and “It profits us nothing to gain the world and forfeit our self.” Our true and authentic life will not be a climb, but a descent. We die to live. We give to receive. We empty to be filled. In order to make sure we are committed to Christ’ counter-intuitive Kingdom principals, we too must follow Jesus into our own wilderness to be tempted by Satan. If our faith is not tried or tested, it cannot be fixed.

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit… was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.” (Luke 4:1-2)

The three temptations of Jesus are archetypal for us today. This remains God’s world, but Satan has been given hézousian (authority) and doxa (glory) to give to whomever he wills. Satan owns institutional power. That is the essence of the world system (kosmos). Satan temps us with status, power, fame, and a pseudonym as a way to satisfy our need for acceptance, validation, relevance, and approval. Christ following by contrast is literally the opposite. We follow Christ into marginalization, decline, insignificance, and death.

1. Lust of the flesh: Jesus was tempted with Hunger.
2. Lust of eyes: Jesus was tempted with authority and glory.
3. Pride of life: Jesus was tempted with proving who He was.

“For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.” (1 John 2:16)

How much do you want to know your true name? The one given in God’s Book of Life at the foundations of the earth? Like Christ, we face these same temptations. Can we trust Christ enough to say “no”? We’re not fat…we’re false. We’re not in debt…we’re fake. We’re not lonely…we just not real. The delusion has reached the surface, but it goes all the way back to when we sold our birthright for a bowl of soup.

Christ’s example was to counter temptation with the Word of God, our true North for navigating this world.

Ready to test it?

What would you give for what the world offers? To get that corner office? Fame? The relevance we so desperately crave…what would you sacrifice to get it? The world’s Guru’s want you to sacrifice our time and money. Give more… sacrifice more… you can’t be a podium finisher, a gold medal winner, a one-percenter? Unless…you do ____(right hand), unless…you think _____(forehead).

We either cozy up to some institutional power and become identified by Satan’s worldly authority and name, or we forsake these pseudonyms and follow in Christ’ footsteps, through marginalization, self-denial, and love of others. Both require everything, but only one makes us free and real.

By now we’ve all discovered how Satan’s fictional world satisfies…temporarily. It delivers, but quickly hollows us out, darkening our understanding. This superhighway leads our life to an ultimate waste. Christ offers us a constricted path of cross bearing that leads to true life. If we fail to see Satan or his kingdoms, we are powerless to avoid them.

Look closely and meet Satan…again…and this time choose wisely.

So how do we do this? First, be still and know God. Get really quiet. Regain your desert experience. Examine who you are when you think nobody is watching. The realize you are not alone. Ask for grace. Ask for mercy. Ask for guidance. Ask to know who you truly are. If something emerges in you mind, face it. Surrender it. Ask for healing. Commit to a new start and put it forever behind you. Stay humble, stay soft, stay sober-minded, and love will come, and with it, you’ll discover your true name: Beloved of God. Find yourself again and again in this depth dimension.

Do we really want 2025 to be different? We must go to the depth dimension, otherwise, we’ll all be back next year skimming the surface on the superhighway of life, but at the cost of our soul.