the mix of bitter and sweet consume me as i tear off a piece of a cinnamon pecan muffin and take a sip of warm espresso. it's 12am and i'm sitting in one of my favorite coffee houses i've found in the area - Jupiter House on the square in Denton. a steady flow of people move in and out the door, some to study, some to talk, some to flirt, and others.... well i'm not sure what they're doing but all seem to flow through with ease and i wonder if they know the hope that tomorrow points us toward.
today marks the beginning of lent. for many of us, we don't understand the concept of lent. we simply write it off as an empty, old world ritual.
in the winter of 2007 i felt led to participate in what i had once deemed as just another mindless ritual for people to observe. about eight months prior to this decision i was listening to an archived sermon given by rob bell at mars hill bible church in grand rapids, michigan. during the course of this sermon bell mentioned that several people of the congregation were going to fast from food for the 40 day period. at the time this seemed both miraculous and absurd all at once.
as I neared closer to winter and then new years i started feeling as though God might be asking me to do something, but yet i wasn't sure what it could be. the feeling and persistent pressure was so unspecific i had just filed it under "ambiguous" and pushed it to the side. february was just around the corner and God begin to reveal to me quite slowly why He placed a heaviness on my spirit for the past 6 weeks. He led me back to the topic of Lent, so i started reading up on the subject.
what i discovered was beautiful and disheartening.
what i learned is that Lent is deeply rooted in Christian history. Lent is a time for us to prepare ourselves for Easter because Easter is the celebration of the risen Christ, the empty tomb. Easter is the celebration of OUR HOPE.
these 40 days of lent are a time for us to not just "give" something up, but rather offer something to God.
it's a time of reflection and repentance.
it causes us to ask questions within our soul --
what do i need to give up to Christ?
what do i struggle with?
what within my soul do i need to surrender to God?
what would you give up out of repentance and conviction?
being that today is Ash Wednesday, you might see people walking around town with an ash cross smudged on their foreheads.
the ashes that are placed on the foreheads of christians represent the ashes that were so common in the old testament during times of mourning, as in Job 2 and Jonah 3. but we must search further back to the law and Moses (Leviticus). the Israelites would offer burnt offerings for penitence of sins. they would burn a bull as a sacrifice for the sins of the Israelite people to God. they would then take the ashes from that burnt offering and pour them out, outside of the camp.
why is this significant? it is significant because of where Christ was crucified.
He was hung on a cross outside the city walls of Jerusalem, outside the camp.
how was His sacrifice seen? it was seen as a sin offering to God for the sins of the people. it is the final sin offering.
if we hold Galatians 2:20 to heart and we die to Christ, will we put ourselves on the altar and sacrifice ourselves to God?
will we say to God, "i am serious about life with you. all i want is to see your face. You are what i long for. You are the reason the wolf howls and creation groans. i am homesick for you. when will i dine at your banquet table?"
i pray that you might begin to observe Lent today with me. embark on this journey with other men and women of God for one purpose - to grow closer to Him.
give something up that is a daily "need" to you.
if you spend 10 hours a week with your kid in sports, give it up to God and spend that time with Him in prayer, reading, writing, or even spend that time teaching your kid about God. your first reaction to that might be that your kid wouldn't understand, but he/she will see that the most important thing in your life is Christ, not sports - a lesson far too many children miss today.
if you spend 3 hours a night watching TV, give it up and commit that time to commune with God.
if you can't go a day without reading up on the latest celebrity gossip - give it up. you might just find yourself wanting to read more of the word than 'people'.
whatever you give up for lent this year, do it as a sacrifice to express to Christ how much He means to you. don't give up something that is going to be easy. give up something that will test you and push you to a point that you must rely on Christ to bring you through.
we often hesitate to sacrifice for God because we know how hard it's going to be, but if we truly step back i think we'll see that if he can willingly walk with a group of Roman soldiers to a torturous death... i can sacrifice something for 40 days.
how serious are we about our walk?
how long will we remain mediocre?
dr. stephen gave us a challenge this past sunday, are you going to step up?
it could start today. what a great way to focus ourselves on reaching the lost, than by preparing ourselves with a fast.
if you are going to observe lent with me, i would like to pray with you. drop me an email just to let me know you are taking this step and i will be in prayer daily for you.
i hope you see that there is a tremendous beauty in the ritual of Lent. all rituals aren't amiss. i would rather say that rituals have the potential to be effective in leading us toward the face of God and therefore good, but they are only good if we observe them with the purpose of benefiting the Kingdom. the moment a ritual becomes methodical and is no longer Spirit-led, the heart of the ritual is dead and it has now morphed into something men accomplish to make themselves feel better.
may you allow God to show you what you need to give to Him.
may your heart be given to God and ask Him to change you.
may the Love of Christ consume your soul.
may no need go unseen.
may God break us so that we have to rely on Him.
peace be with you.
today marks the beginning of lent. for many of us, we don't understand the concept of lent. we simply write it off as an empty, old world ritual.
in the winter of 2007 i felt led to participate in what i had once deemed as just another mindless ritual for people to observe. about eight months prior to this decision i was listening to an archived sermon given by rob bell at mars hill bible church in grand rapids, michigan. during the course of this sermon bell mentioned that several people of the congregation were going to fast from food for the 40 day period. at the time this seemed both miraculous and absurd all at once.
as I neared closer to winter and then new years i started feeling as though God might be asking me to do something, but yet i wasn't sure what it could be. the feeling and persistent pressure was so unspecific i had just filed it under "ambiguous" and pushed it to the side. february was just around the corner and God begin to reveal to me quite slowly why He placed a heaviness on my spirit for the past 6 weeks. He led me back to the topic of Lent, so i started reading up on the subject.
what i discovered was beautiful and disheartening.
what i learned is that Lent is deeply rooted in Christian history. Lent is a time for us to prepare ourselves for Easter because Easter is the celebration of the risen Christ, the empty tomb. Easter is the celebration of OUR HOPE.
these 40 days of lent are a time for us to not just "give" something up, but rather offer something to God.
it's a time of reflection and repentance.
it causes us to ask questions within our soul --
what do i need to give up to Christ?
what do i struggle with?
what within my soul do i need to surrender to God?
what would you give up out of repentance and conviction?
being that today is Ash Wednesday, you might see people walking around town with an ash cross smudged on their foreheads.
the ashes that are placed on the foreheads of christians represent the ashes that were so common in the old testament during times of mourning, as in Job 2 and Jonah 3. but we must search further back to the law and Moses (Leviticus). the Israelites would offer burnt offerings for penitence of sins. they would burn a bull as a sacrifice for the sins of the Israelite people to God. they would then take the ashes from that burnt offering and pour them out, outside of the camp.
why is this significant? it is significant because of where Christ was crucified.
He was hung on a cross outside the city walls of Jerusalem, outside the camp.
how was His sacrifice seen? it was seen as a sin offering to God for the sins of the people. it is the final sin offering.
if we hold Galatians 2:20 to heart and we die to Christ, will we put ourselves on the altar and sacrifice ourselves to God?
will we say to God, "i am serious about life with you. all i want is to see your face. You are what i long for. You are the reason the wolf howls and creation groans. i am homesick for you. when will i dine at your banquet table?"
i pray that you might begin to observe Lent today with me. embark on this journey with other men and women of God for one purpose - to grow closer to Him.
give something up that is a daily "need" to you.
if you spend 10 hours a week with your kid in sports, give it up to God and spend that time with Him in prayer, reading, writing, or even spend that time teaching your kid about God. your first reaction to that might be that your kid wouldn't understand, but he/she will see that the most important thing in your life is Christ, not sports - a lesson far too many children miss today.
if you spend 3 hours a night watching TV, give it up and commit that time to commune with God.
if you can't go a day without reading up on the latest celebrity gossip - give it up. you might just find yourself wanting to read more of the word than 'people'.
whatever you give up for lent this year, do it as a sacrifice to express to Christ how much He means to you. don't give up something that is going to be easy. give up something that will test you and push you to a point that you must rely on Christ to bring you through.
we often hesitate to sacrifice for God because we know how hard it's going to be, but if we truly step back i think we'll see that if he can willingly walk with a group of Roman soldiers to a torturous death... i can sacrifice something for 40 days.
how serious are we about our walk?
how long will we remain mediocre?
dr. stephen gave us a challenge this past sunday, are you going to step up?
it could start today. what a great way to focus ourselves on reaching the lost, than by preparing ourselves with a fast.
if you are going to observe lent with me, i would like to pray with you. drop me an email just to let me know you are taking this step and i will be in prayer daily for you.
i hope you see that there is a tremendous beauty in the ritual of Lent. all rituals aren't amiss. i would rather say that rituals have the potential to be effective in leading us toward the face of God and therefore good, but they are only good if we observe them with the purpose of benefiting the Kingdom. the moment a ritual becomes methodical and is no longer Spirit-led, the heart of the ritual is dead and it has now morphed into something men accomplish to make themselves feel better.
may you allow God to show you what you need to give to Him.
may your heart be given to God and ask Him to change you.
may the Love of Christ consume your soul.
may no need go unseen.
may God break us so that we have to rely on Him.
peace be with you.
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1 comment:
Rustin I'm ready to do all that I may for my Saviour whom laid his life down for me.I will research on lent and sacrifice please pray for me!
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