Lent

Yesterday, much of the Christian world began a season that is referred to as Lent.  It is the 40 days that precede Easter Sunday (not counting Sundays during that period) and are purposed to encourage Christians to prepare their hearts for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. The word, Lent, is taken from the Anglo-Saxon word lencten that means ‘spring season.’  The significance of 40 days comes from the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness after His baptism, and just prior to launching roughly three years of ministry.  Those 40 days in the wilderness were a time when He fasted and prayed in preparation for all that was going to unfold in His life leading up to and including His execution and resurrection.

So, Christians have set apart these 40 spring days, prior to Easter, in order to prepare themselves.  Unfortunately, Lent has many times become something else.  It has become a time to follow a bunch of rules for a limited amount of time. Lent has become a lot about externals and very little about transforming the heart.  In fact, since you are supposed to be ’nice’ during those days, let’s make sure we can carry on with as much debauchery as possible the day before it all gets started… aka, Mardi Gras.  Or, during those 40 days, let’s create all sorts of cultural events that, on the outside look like churchy or religious things, but actually are simply quirky distinctive happenings that have little to do with grieving the broken patterns of our lives. Sometimes churches and Christians find themselves following some sort of devotional sequence so that we can check off our ‘spiritual obligation’ and think that we are covered for yet another year.  It is possible that we can celebrate in a fashion that is tragically opposed to the very core of what Jesus was trying to get us to understand.  You see, Jesus wanted us to understand that it is the human heart that is fractured and frayed.  It is the human heart that has become hard and calloused toward the things of God and of our fellow man.  The change that needs to happen is on the inside rather than any external observation.  Jesus demonstrated that time was a crucial element of hearing from the Father and being changed and prepared.

Therefore, it would be worth our time and attention to begin preparing ourselves for Easter.  It might take God 40 days to melt away the twisted, bitter, angry, cold, careless, contemptuous, arrogant, mean, lustful, sensual, scared and shameful things that lurk inside us.  So, some honest dialogue with God might go a long way right now.  Let Him speak to you and give Him your response, even if your response is less than impressive.  He will not be shocked or surprised.  In fact, that is where He can begin do His things inside us.  Jesus’ brother, James, might even suggest that we ‘confess our sins to one another, and pray for each other, that we might be healed’.

Maybe Lent can be a time when we reject simply going through the motions “again this year,” but rather we can take God seriously.  Maybe we can humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God and let Him do what only He can do anyway… change our hearts of stone into heart of flesh.   Only then can we gaze on the cross and the empty tomb with eyes that perceive His love, His grace and His authority in our lives.  He exchanged His life for ours.  He exchanged His death for ours.  He gave Himself for us out of His love for us.

Don’t let your past prevent you from having a future.  You are not defined by your failures.  Rather, you are defined by God’s grace that is spread over you by His power love.

So… have a great Lent that touches your heart.