". . . I repent
in dust and ashes."
in dust and ashes."
Job 42:6, NIV
The first day of Lent 2015 is here, my friend!
Please join me on this journey.
From time to time, you may find yourself unable or unwilling to bring these daily devotionals into contact with your busy eyes, your overly crowded mind, or your restless heart.
Please know I get it.
This is exactly where I find myself today.
And for that reason, I am humbly suggesting there is much value in pausing and giving this journey a chance. This trek longs to hearten one and all to become purposeful or intentional about turning our focus to the reality of Christ and the splendor of His Passion and Resurrection.
And let me gently nudge you to not simply spectate. Please, participate. And as you do, I pray you and I will "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)
It is all about Christ!
Please join me on this journey.
From time to time, you may find yourself unable or unwilling to bring these daily devotionals into contact with your busy eyes, your overly crowded mind, or your restless heart.
Please know I get it.
This is exactly where I find myself today.
And for that reason, I am humbly suggesting there is much value in pausing and giving this journey a chance. This trek longs to hearten one and all to become purposeful or intentional about turning our focus to the reality of Christ and the splendor of His Passion and Resurrection.
And let me gently nudge you to not simply spectate. Please, participate. And as you do, I pray you and I will "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18)
It is all about Christ!
*******
Today is Ash Wednesday in the liturgical calendar. It marks the onset of the Lenten season, a period of preparation for the celebration of Easter. In certain traditions, ashes will be used and applied on the foreheads of myriad Christians today as a sign of mourning over sins and a gesture of humbling oneself in the sight of the Lord.
Traditionally, the ashes come from palm fronds or branches used by congregants on the Palm Sunday of the previous year. Those very palms are burned, consecrated, and collected as ashes for the first day of Lent. Christ-followers from religious traditions that celebrate Ash Wednesday usually leave ashes on their foreheads for the whole day as a genuine and vulnerable expression of their faith in the humble Christ.
Yet not all Christians agree with the celebration of Ash Wednesday. And even among those who do, not all Christians use ashes. Nonetheless, the ashes can point to an invitation Christ sends to all of His followers -- to come to Him in humble repentance because our best waving palms, our righteous acts, are nothing but filthy rags next to the radiance of His glory.
"All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away."
Isaiah 64:6, NIV
What are our best waving palms?
A good Christian witness.
A meal for the hungry.
A good friendship.
A respectful tone.
A 'get well' card.
A gentle answer.
A patient response.
A faithful contribution.
A good singing rendition.
A joyful prayer in afflictions.
What a formidable portrait!
Yet it all comes crashing down as more and more people perpetuate, "You are the most thoughtful, best friend, most respectful, most patient . . . person that I know" and as our hearts grow more and more accustomed and reliant upon such recognition.
How easily the very items we aim to surrender to the Father become instruments that puff us up! How quickly the Christian virtues we seek to practice turn into forceful gusts of wind that threaten to sweep us away!
We are ever learning yet never quite reaching true wisdom.
We are ever reading holy writings yet never quite living in holiness.
We are ever memorizing verses yet never quite retaining the lessons learned.
We are ever drawing from the well of grace yet never quite holding the water of freedom.
Indeed, in accumulating knowledge and religiosity, we become overly stuffed -- stuffed with too much pride, too much esteem, too much recognition, too much adulation, too much plunder . . . much too much of anything and everything. Human praise keeps us so full of the 'self' and so full of oozing sin that there is very little (if any) room left in the heart or mind for the worship of Christ.
In His mercy, the Holy Spirit reveals to us that accumulating does not equate retaining. In the economy of God's grace, we can only retain one thing and one thing only -- that is, the person of Christ Himself. And in order to retain Him, He graciously invites us to rend ourselves -- allowing Him to empty our hearts of all the odious filth that repels God's holiness. Our Savior is so pure that He will not share His place with any other entity. He wants to be the only occupant of our hearts.
Hence, Ash Wednesday reminds us that Jesus beckons us, "Come!"
- Would you and I come to Jesus today "with all [our hearts], with fasting and weeping and mourning" (Joel 2:12) rending our hearts and not our garments?
- Would we present our 'waving palms' to Him, letting Him burn them, consecrate them, collect them, and place them not merely on our foreheads but on our very hearts?
- Would we come to Him as an act of willingness and readiness to receive the Holy Spirit's guidance and wisdom?
- Would we offer Him our fasting as an invitation for the Holy Spirit to sweep our hearts clean and make room for Christ, the sole occupant of our ever so lowly hearts?
- Would we come to Him not just during this lenten season but for the remainder of our lives on earth, exposing our hearts to Christ's X-radiating power to excise entangling sins and relying on His grace alone?
I invite you to join me in prayer.
Even coming to You, O Christ, is a gracious wonder. Had it not been for Your grace, we would not even know how to take the first step. Had it not been for Your cords of loving-kindness, we would instead be drowning in sinking sand and shame. Thank You for claiming and reclaiming our souls in Your mercy. O Lamb of God, we come to You with our 'waving palms' and areas of giftedness. Burn them before they forge their way into our hearts. Please, place the ashes on our hearts and prepare us to be Your living sanctuary for all to see. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!
A good Christian witness.
A meal for the hungry.
A good friendship.
A respectful tone.
A 'get well' card.
A gentle answer.
A patient response.
A faithful contribution.
A good singing rendition.
A joyful prayer in afflictions.
What a formidable portrait!
Yet it all comes crashing down as more and more people perpetuate, "You are the most thoughtful, best friend, most respectful, most patient . . . person that I know" and as our hearts grow more and more accustomed and reliant upon such recognition.
How easily the very items we aim to surrender to the Father become instruments that puff us up! How quickly the Christian virtues we seek to practice turn into forceful gusts of wind that threaten to sweep us away!
We are ever learning yet never quite reaching true wisdom.
We are ever reading holy writings yet never quite living in holiness.
We are ever memorizing verses yet never quite retaining the lessons learned.
We are ever drawing from the well of grace yet never quite holding the water of freedom.
Indeed, in accumulating knowledge and religiosity, we become overly stuffed -- stuffed with too much pride, too much esteem, too much recognition, too much adulation, too much plunder . . . much too much of anything and everything. Human praise keeps us so full of the 'self' and so full of oozing sin that there is very little (if any) room left in the heart or mind for the worship of Christ.
In His mercy, the Holy Spirit reveals to us that accumulating does not equate retaining. In the economy of God's grace, we can only retain one thing and one thing only -- that is, the person of Christ Himself. And in order to retain Him, He graciously invites us to rend ourselves -- allowing Him to empty our hearts of all the odious filth that repels God's holiness. Our Savior is so pure that He will not share His place with any other entity. He wants to be the only occupant of our hearts.
Hence, Ash Wednesday reminds us that Jesus beckons us, "Come!"
- Would you and I come to Jesus today "with all [our hearts], with fasting and weeping and mourning" (Joel 2:12) rending our hearts and not our garments?
- Would we present our 'waving palms' to Him, letting Him burn them, consecrate them, collect them, and place them not merely on our foreheads but on our very hearts?
- Would we come to Him as an act of willingness and readiness to receive the Holy Spirit's guidance and wisdom?
- Would we offer Him our fasting as an invitation for the Holy Spirit to sweep our hearts clean and make room for Christ, the sole occupant of our ever so lowly hearts?
- Would we come to Him not just during this lenten season but for the remainder of our lives on earth, exposing our hearts to Christ's X-radiating power to excise entangling sins and relying on His grace alone?
I invite you to join me in prayer.
Even coming to You, O Christ, is a gracious wonder. Had it not been for Your grace, we would not even know how to take the first step. Had it not been for Your cords of loving-kindness, we would instead be drowning in sinking sand and shame. Thank You for claiming and reclaiming our souls in Your mercy. O Lamb of God, we come to You with our 'waving palms' and areas of giftedness. Burn them before they forge their way into our hearts. Please, place the ashes on our hearts and prepare us to be Your living sanctuary for all to see. In the precious name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!
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