As a liturgical and renewing period, Lent calls us towards the Cross. At a time when the message of the Cross is foolishness to the perishing, Lent reminds us that there is a massive ongoing battle between the forces of God’s kingdom and those of evil. Martin Luther said that a “theology of glory calls evil good and good evil. A theology of the Cross calls the thing what it actually is.” Christian leaders are called to call a thing what it is by refusing to dance with the devil. It is so sad when leaders who preserve their institutional comforts are too weary to speak the Truth. Hence, the church has shifted, distorting the Gospel voice and Truth.

In this context, Truth is not just a moral virtue but a fundamental theological reality about Jesus’ identity and mission (Jn 14:6). The distortion of Truth results from the church and leadership’s failure to obey the biblical call to truth-preaching and teaching, a call to bear witness—to testify in a world that so often bends it for power and gain.

Faced with the world’s weapons of manipulation, secrecy, lust, misinformation, propaganda, and outright deception, it is tragic that leadership temptations increasingly tend towards self-serving. Christian leaders, as missional theologians of the Cross, cannot stand hypocrisy. The church is declining ‘in a moment when those who prioritise glory are actively, repeatedly, and with considerable economic, political, and military force, calling good evil and evil good.’ The church and the world are reaping the fruits of misapplication and distortion of Scriptural Truth with the lack of the profound peace, love, and joy that comes from knowing and doing God’s will.

If the devil can take on Jesus, the ONLY SON of GOD, you and I are no exception. The Good News is that Jesus shows us how to take on temptation and not succumb to Satan’s distortion of the Truth. Compromise is the enemy of righteousness, as holiness is not subjected to the cultural shift. A church or leadership vanity toppling the Gospel by distorting the Truth and tolerating sin is not different from the world. Lent is countercultural when the role of Christian leadership as a missional theologian of the Cross is distorted and becomes transactional. Leadership, like whitewashed tombs, looks beautiful on the outside, ‘but inside, they are full of the bones of the dead and all kinds of filth (Matt. 23:27).

Lent has a special application for us as missional leaders and theologians of the Cross. Jesus does not force us to do something He Himself would not do. During His 40 days in the wilderness, Jesus faced three major temptations. Satan approached Him and tried to entice Him by distorting the Truth, that is, Jesus’ identity and mission.

Lent is about walking the same road as Jesus for a missional leader, a theologian of the Cross. The role of wilderness temptation in preparing and renewing a missional leader cannot be overemphasised. The Gospels of Luke and Matthew record Jesus’ time in the wilderness at the beginning of His ministry. Jesus spent 40 days alone in a desert, abstaining from food, noise, and distraction. Lent, with reference to the Gospel of Luke, gives us a hint.

Satan said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread’ (Lk 4:3). Satan tried to get Jesus to act apart from God to meet His legitimate need. Satan tempts Jesus’s “flesh” or physical desires, especially hunger as the strongest after such an extended time without food. Performing miracles to eat may look reasonable, but Jesus reminds us not to be tempted to use our power for selfish reasons. Like Jesus, we are to meet and resist Satan’s distortion of Truth and temptation by declaring that we will live by God’s Word above all else.

Satan brought Jesus to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here, For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you to keep you and, in their hands, they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone’ (Lk 4:9-10). Satan tried to distort the Truth by convincing Jesus to get ahead by linking up with a power other than God.

As missional leaders, Lent affords us to recognise that God will lead us into the season of growth, not gratification. As missional leaders, Lent reminds us to fight battles and overcome temptations rather than take shortcuts. We all face daily battles, including temptation, a lie and deception, to use our intellectual, philosophical, political and miraculous power to turn stone into bread. Satan continued to use the same techniques that were used against Jesus. Just as Jesus was tempted, we will be tempted to meet a legitimate need illegitimately. We are going to be tempted to leverage God for our ends. We will be tempted to do the right thing the wrong way, take shortcuts, and compromise the standard of God’s Word for the world standard.

Lent calls us to follow Jesus’ footsteps by saying no to every temptation that conceals the Truth of God’s Word and presents falsehood to us as the Truth. The temptation of stone to bread lures us into doing, saying, or thinking something that does not reflect who we are as sons and daughters of God. To overcome temptation, Lent guides us against the illusion of false charm, a quick and easy way which is a quick disaster. Lent calls us to give up sin because temptation conceals the true road to salvation and wholeness in JESUS CHRIST. As a missional leader, Lent breaks our self-sufficiency and self-promotion. As missional leaders, Lent helps us to renew our sense and purpose of mission shaped by eternal perspective.

Satan said to Jesus, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours’ (vs 6-7). Satan tried to urge Jesus to use His giftedness for self-profit or to draw a crowd. Satan tempts Jesus with the offer of rulership over all the kingdoms of the world, a distortion and proposal that Jesus rejects. This is an appeal for material wealth, possessions and power. Jesus’ kingdom in this age is not worldly. Jesus’ response summons us to refuse to seek a kingdom for ourselves through worldly methods of compromise, earthly violence, or personal popularity. Jesus’ kingdom is spiritual, established in the hearts of His people, who have also refused to follow the ungodly ways of the world. A missional leader gains a heavenly kingdom through suffering, self-denial, humility, and meekness. Lent calls us to become Cross-centred, truth-telling Christians, beginning with REPENTANCE.

Lent calls us to examine and repent from our self-deceit before we can effectively be a part of the corporate examination of our self-deceit and distortion of Truth. We shall know the Truth and the Truth will set us free whereas, when we distort the Truth, the distorting not only divides us as leaders or church but also devalues us, declines us, and ends us with spiritual and physical death.