Gracelife Family,

Today happens to mark the first day of Lent.  For those who might not be familiar with Lent or perhaps have never even heard the term used in church, this is a season that has been set aside throughout the history of the Christian Church for the purpose of preparing our hearts in anticipation of the joyful celebration of Easter.  It is traditionally associated to be a time of increased spiritual sobriety marked by focused self-examination, humility, and intentionality in both repentance and prayer.  It’s my hope to send you some thoughts periodically over the next six weeks to help us grow in our understanding and appreciation of the meaning and impact of Jesus’ death on the cross for us both in our daily lives as well as eternally.

““Yet even now,” declares the Lord, return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.  Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” – Joel 2:12-13

 

These words written by the prophet Joel are a call for God’s people to take our sin seriously as a result of our devotion to the Lord.  Our sin should be something that truly breaks our hearts more than anything else in life.  It’s appropriate for us to grieve and even be moved to tears over the ways that we have disobeyed God’s Word.  That’s because our sin hurts and dishonors the Lord.  Furthermore, it causes harm and pain to others made in God’s image.   

This is a posture that does not come naturally to us.  Our tendency is denial, making excuses, or playing the blame game whenever we are confronted by our failures.  We don’t want to deal with it due to either pride or guilt and shame.  The other trap we can fall into is to acknowledge and admit it in a superficial way hoping that will be enough to appease people’s anger and alleviate our own burden of guilt.

However, that is not the true measure of repentance from God’s perspective.  He desires that we be genuine in wrestling with the ugliness and evil of our sin rather than simply grieving its consequences.  In the process, we will begin to hate our behavior and want to stop doing it.  We know from the rest of God’s Word that this is only possible with God’s help through the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.  

We learn in this text that what gives us the enduring motivation to be real in taking ownership for all of the hurt we have inflicted is our knowledge and remembrance of the Lord’s exceeding patience, grace, mercy, and love.  As a final thought, we can take comfort in the reality that we are never beyond the reach of receiving God’s forgiveness when we seek it.  The invitation offered to us is to “return to the Lord even now”.  May we do that today and every day going forward!     

 

Love in Christ,

Pastor Keith