Lent
Some of you might be wondering if I gave up blogging for Lent. I didn't! I just couldn't decide what themes or Scripture passages to discuss. So, I put off writing. But here I am today.
Lent is one of my favourite seasons in the Church Year. I find setting time aside to confess and repent of my sin draws me close to God and increases my gratitude for the cross. It prepares me for Easter.
But Lent is hard. It can be hard to make time to pray. It can be hard to face our sin. Sometimes we don't want to. Other times we don't know how.
One image keeps coming to mind when I think of Lent. It is something I saw one Saturday morning in my dining room. The sun was streaming in (after many, many weeks of cloudy weather) and I was delighted with this. But when I looked down at my floor, I was shocked. I saw a thin film of dust that I didn't know was there. We had swept the floor the night before, I was sure of it. So I got out the broom and swept. Guess what I realized? We didn't have a very good broom. As I swept, this fine dust did not get picked up or swept away, it just stayed there. So, I went and got my Swiffer(which worked) and started to think about how this applies to Lent.
Jesus is the Light of the World. He shines in our hearts exposing impurities (sins) we can't even perceive left to ourselves. He leads us in acknowledging that our coping strategies and attempts to clean-up our lives on our own strength aren't working. This awareness causes us to turn to Him for the only remedy.... forgiveness through His death, the newness of life through His resurrection, and the power to live it through the Holy Spirit in us.
The purpose of Lenten disciplines is to expose us to the light of Christ. They are not about self-denial as an end in itself. They are about making space for God. About learning to tolerate the uncomfortableness that conviction can bring. About humbling ourselves and finding out that when we do that, we are lifted up by Him.
As James 4:10 says,
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Lent is one of my favourite seasons in the Church Year. I find setting time aside to confess and repent of my sin draws me close to God and increases my gratitude for the cross. It prepares me for Easter.
But Lent is hard. It can be hard to make time to pray. It can be hard to face our sin. Sometimes we don't want to. Other times we don't know how.
One image keeps coming to mind when I think of Lent. It is something I saw one Saturday morning in my dining room. The sun was streaming in (after many, many weeks of cloudy weather) and I was delighted with this. But when I looked down at my floor, I was shocked. I saw a thin film of dust that I didn't know was there. We had swept the floor the night before, I was sure of it. So I got out the broom and swept. Guess what I realized? We didn't have a very good broom. As I swept, this fine dust did not get picked up or swept away, it just stayed there. So, I went and got my Swiffer(which worked) and started to think about how this applies to Lent.
Jesus is the Light of the World. He shines in our hearts exposing impurities (sins) we can't even perceive left to ourselves. He leads us in acknowledging that our coping strategies and attempts to clean-up our lives on our own strength aren't working. This awareness causes us to turn to Him for the only remedy.... forgiveness through His death, the newness of life through His resurrection, and the power to live it through the Holy Spirit in us.
The purpose of Lenten disciplines is to expose us to the light of Christ. They are not about self-denial as an end in itself. They are about making space for God. About learning to tolerate the uncomfortableness that conviction can bring. About humbling ourselves and finding out that when we do that, we are lifted up by Him.
As James 4:10 says,
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Comments
Post a Comment