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Lent 2022 | Day 24: Grace

Of all the words that we learn in the Christian faith one of the greatest is grace. In this word we learn that God’s love for us is not based upon our failures but upon God’s character. That it does not matter where we might find ourselves in life’s journey God is able and willing to extend to us what we may never feel worthy to extend to ourselves.

The Christian life can oftentimes reveal challenges to our understanding of ourselves. The reason this happens is that we are so busy on any given day trying to do the best we can to accomplish the tasks before us we overlook what is happening within us. As followers of Christ, we are encouraged to reflect inwardly on the work of the Holy Spirit within us. This work of transformation is one that requires openness and humility oftentimes lacking. The reason it is lacking is that, for better or for worse, it is easier to live our lives that way.

This is not to make an accusation or be overly critical. Everyone does this. But from time to time it is worth considering why. Why do we content ourselves with not thinking or reflecting on the course of our lives?

I don’t know how anyone else would answer that, so I’ll speak for myself. I think I do it because confronting those things which I know must change can be painful.

To admit I have been wrong in some areas of my life is not easy. And for some, I would imagine, it can bring to mind past hurt that has gone too long unaddressed. And the longer we bury that pain and hurt the more difficult it becomes to acknowledge it exists at all.

This is why God’s grace is such a powerful remedy to the injuries of our past. It is an acknowledgment that God already knows. That there is nothing in this world we could tell God he has not already heard. That there is nothing we would have experienced that would surprise him. That there is nothing we could say that would make God desire to be less gracious toward us.

This may be surprising to many. But it should not be for those of us who have come to know and believe the gospel of Jesus. One of the great examples of this is given to us by Jesus himself as he was hanging on the cross. While being mocked and as he died he looked to heaven and asked for the Father to “forgive them” (Luke 23:34). The very people who were the cause of his immediate suffering were the recipients of God’s grace and Christ’s request for forgiveness.

We all stand before the cross of Christ because of our sin mocking and deriding him. And Jesus, just like he did on that day, turns towards heaven and asked the Father to forgive us for our sins. And we have a choice in that moment of realization. We can either accept the forgiveness that is offered or we can reject it. We must make a choice in response to Christ’s declaration.

There is no passive reception of forgiveness. We must acknowledge it intentionally and we must receive it through an act of the will. God will not apply forgiveness to us just because he desires it (and he does). God extends to us his grace as a free gift but if we do not embrace it and “open it” for ourselves we will never experience the fullness of its benefits.

The season of Lent is a time for us to reflect on the grace God has extended to us. This grace is beyond measure and without comparison. God has extended to us grace when what we deserve is something far worse. But God who is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4-10) has decided to give us one of the greatest expressions of his love. We can reject it and we can malign it but we can never deny God has extended grace to us. The cross of Jesus Christ has not left that option open to us.

Lent 2022 | Day 23: Days

8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

2 Peter 3:8 KJV

This verse in Peter’s second letter is interesting because of how it describes God. God does not experience the passage of time the same way that we do. It is been said that God is eternal. So, the very idea of “time” for God is probably nonsensical. But for us, that is a notion that we struggle to make sense of because our experience of time is not like that.

Peter says that one day for God is like “a thousand years” for us. And that a thousand years for us is as “one day” for God. That seems repetitive. And it is to a certain extent. What we must keep in mind is what this is describing. It is describing a relationship between how we perceive things and how God perceives things.

A thousand years ago the world look very different than it does today in the 21st century. The changes that have occurred in the last 100 years are more drastic than what happened in the previous 900 years. And we look back on that time and cannot fathom having to live in those circumstances or conditions. And this is the reality this verse is drawing our attention to.

There are so many times when I’ve had conversations about God’s timing. Why doesn’t God do this? Or why can’t God do that? These are fair questions from our perspective because we recognize that our lives will come to an end. And it’s this finite reality of life that causes us to want for God to act more quickly. What this reveals is a basic misunderstanding about God’s will for the world.

While God cares for us and desires for each of us to experience the fullness of his love and grace, there is a greater purpose for which God is at work. We do not always understand it. In many ways, we feel like we never will. But this does not change the fact that God’s will is God’s primary focus.

So, the feeling of frustration we feel when God seems to delay his activity or intervention is based on a presumption we should challenge. That presumption is that God is obligated to fulfill our requests when we asked them. But this is not the case. We must grow in our humble submission to God’s plan and purposes for the world.

The fact that for God one day is as a thousand years is a reminder that what God is doing he has been doing for a long time. And because God has been at work for far longer than we have existed we should not lose heart when we do not get what we ask for when or how we asked for it. We should remember that what God is doing will be of greater value to the whole of creation and to us individually than anything we could ever have imagined for ourselves.

As each day passes and as we draw closer to Easter morning I pray we would pause and remember God’s faithfulness endures. The fact that God’s timeline follows a longer arc than our own should give us comfort. But many of us have to learn to rest in that. And that takes time. Time is something God has more of than any of us. So he can wait on us to catch up to him.

Lent 2022 | 4th Sunday in Lent: Celebrate!

Today we celebrate the magnitude of God’s grace.

On these Sundays in Lent, we have been exploring the grace of God. We have been trying to look at various aspects of God’s grace. In the process, my hope has been to give us a greater appreciation of what God has given to us as a gift.

One of the challenges that I have when trying to describe the grace of God has to do with its scope. What that means is understanding what exactly God’s grace covers. This is what I had in mind when I considered the focus for this aspect of God’s grace. The magnitude of God’s grace is greater and more far-reaching than we truly understand. Because of the scale of what we’re talking about it can be difficult to truly appreciate what God has done.

God’s grace is the outpouring of his love on those who have offended against God’s holiness. The seriousness of the situation can oftentimes be minimized in unhelpful ways. We do not have a means of measuring how truly offensive our sin is to God’s holy character. The only indication we have of how awful our sin is is to consider the lengths to which God went to remedy our sin.

The sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross is the price God said would satisfy the offense. From a theological standpoint, the fact God entered into the world and chose to die so sinners might have access to God’s grace cannot be understated. No other man or woman was worthy enough to stand as a representative for the rest of mankind. So God chose to become like those who had offended him and offered himself in the life and person of Jesus Christ for the sake of those who could not restore the relationship to where it needed to be. So, what we could not do and what needed to be done God did for us.

The miracle of salvation is grounded in the reality that God must be true to himself at all times. And by virtue of what we find in Scripture, we can see that God’s love for his people had to find expression in spite of our sin. But that God’s holiness had to be upheld because of it. So how would God find a solution to this problem? He did it in Jesus.

Even in those moments when I find myself wondering why would God do such a thing for me, I must fight back the temptation to make myself the exception from God’s grace. The magnitude of God’s grace helps us to see the fullness of God’s love for sinners. Even for those who ultimately reject the grace he has freely offered to them. God’s grace is better than any person could describe. Better than the wildest imagination could conceive. God’s grace is better than our deepest fears.

So as we celebrate today the magnitude of God’s grace let us look forward with anticipation to Easter morning. That will be another opportunity for us to look back over our lives and see how much more God’s grace has been present than we had perceived in those moments we felt most distant.

Lent 2022 | Day 22: Wonderful

A cursory search for the etymology of the word wonderful shows it is derived from two words. The words “wonder” and the word “full”. This should not be surprising. But what is interesting is that the word wonder is an old word describing something that is miraculous or astonishing. Therefore, when we say that something is wonderful we are describing the quality of the object to which we are referring. That it is something marvelous and worthy of being astonished at.

We too often use words like this in ways that may not necessarily measure up as well as we might think. Many times we describe things as wonderful that are truly aesthetically beautiful or pleasing to the eye. They just may not necessarily be filled with wonder themselves. And I’m not trying to get too technical at this description of the word. My desire is merely to highlight the unique attribute of how this word had been used and may be found useful to use again.

Within the Christian faith, there are several things worthy of being wondered over. Things such as the grace of God in his mercy, the sacrifice of Christ for sinners, and even being able to gather together with other believers. I know that not everyone would agree that these are wonderful. But I think that’s part of the problem. The fact that these things exist and that we can be partakers of them is exactly what makes them wonderful. Just because they may appear to be ordinary by the standards of some does not make them any less astonishing.

Of all the things which we could find wonderful, the presence of God among his people is one of the most astonishing of them all. How God is able to do that is a mystery. But it is not a mystery that has been kept hidden from us. It is a mystery that now resides in the open. For when we gather to sing and celebrate, to study and share our lives together, to serve those around us we are told God is among us as well.

It is through the simple acts of living life, aware of his promises, that it becomes a reality to us. Too often we try to fabricate a divine encounter by using means that stimulate our emotions. But that only serves to cloud God’s presence in our lives. There is a sense in which our ability to apprehend those things filled with the quality of producing wonder requires a stillness we are not always comfortable entering into.

Every year in the 40 days prior to Easter we are given an opportunity to slow down. To take some time and look back over the course of our lives and the previous year and remember God’s faithfulness to us. And it’s not that we always can see God’s faithfulness. But learning to accept that it is really present even when we’re not as aware of it as we would like.

This is why when I think about those things that elicit wonder in me I think of God’s presence permeating the world in which I live. Similar to the oxygen that I need to breathe but cannot see, God surrounds us with himself.

Lent 2022 | Day 21: Delivered

One of my favorite movies growing up was The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston. It is a retelling of the events found in the book of Exodus. The story of the rise of Moses, his exile, and his ultimate return as a messenger of God. It is one of the more compelling stories found in the Bible. In some ways, it is no surprise that it was adapted as a feature film.

One of the central themes of the movie is that of deliverance. The idea was that God would provide the means for the rescue of the nation of Israel from the slavery it endured in Egypt. This deliverance came through God’s use of an unlikely person.

Moses was spared from the annihilation of all the Hebrew male children by the ingenuity of his family. God’s protection of Moses would place him into circumstances that would prepare him for what God had in store for his life. No one could have foreknown how God would accomplish the deliverance of his people. There had been 400 years of difficulty and hardship. God remained faithful to his word.

The story of the Exodus is one of the key motifs of understanding the work of Christ to deliver us from the bondage of sin. Through the story and the events of the Hebrew people, we get a glimpse into how God brings about deliverance. There are too many facets to the story to be covered here but we will focus on the one that most closely connects the events in Exodus with Jesus. Namely that God’s deliverance of his people would involve a supernatural and miraculous set of events.

The work of Christ on the cross is the fulfillment of everything God promised for the generations of descendants of Adam and Eve. We all share in the same image that God put in them. And we all share in the same fallen nature that keeps us from having a relationship with God. But God is able to overcome this separation by entering into the world he has created. Through this entrance, God demonstrates his willingness to not only save but to be the one who leads us out of our captivity.

When I think about deliverance I find that there is a personal connection involved. That someone has come to where I am because I cannot get out of those circumstances on my own. This is deliverance. That Jesus Christ entered into the world to set us free. And that without his coming and his sacrifice we would have remained separated from God.

The season of Lent is an opportune time to remember that while we were sinners God sent his son on a rescue mission for us. And even more remarkable than this is Jesus accomplished the work God the Father had given to him.

As we continue drawing closer to Easter Sunday may remember we have been saved from the clutches of sin. We have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God. And we have been delivered from what seemed to be an impossible situation and have been restored to fellowship with God.

Lent 2022 | Day 20: Joy

Many times we confuse joy with happiness. Happiness is what we feel when the conditions and circumstances of our lives produce a sense of excitement because everything seems to be falling into place. What this means is happiness is dependent upon what is happening around us. If things are going well and we feel happy, generally speaking. But if things are not going well, then our feeling of happiness is diminished or even nonexistent.

Joy, however, is not dependent upon the external realities of life. Joy is the condition of our internal self regardless of what is happening around us. Joy is not supposed to be something that comes and goes. Joy is something that is resident within us.

I don’t want us to think that there is no relationship between happiness and joy. There is. Our emotional state at any given time informs how we view what is happening around us. However, happiness can be understood as the immediate reaction to what is happening around us. But joy is more of a long-lasting feeling because it looks further down the road than what is happening now.

As an example of this, when my children were born I was happy. But I was also filled with joy. And the reason for my happiness was because they were now here with us, expanding our family. But I was also joyful because of what their lives meant to me.

Joy is more of a long-lasting feeling because it looks further down the road than what is happening now.

So let’s fast forward a few years, and now we have teenagers living in our home. Will there will be times when I am unhappy with what they do? Of course, there will be. But that does not change the hope that I feel when I think of what they could be. What they could become. I have joy for the potential of what God can and will do in their lives. And that is not dependent on the choices they make in the immediate moment that may or may not make me happy.

This is a somewhat simplified way of thinking about these two realities of life. My goal is not to define every moment that can either make us happy or not, or explain what can bring any person joy at any given moment. We should strive, the best we can, to understand how what is happening around us and within us can impact how we live our lives.

The season of Lent can be a time filled with moments of happiness or sadness. As we consider the realities of our actions and the consequences they may produce we are awakened to everything we do. But we also know that the season of Lent will eventually come to an end. There will be a morning when we arise and we will give God glory and praise for his goodness and mercy. And on that morning we will celebrate our redemption which was purchased by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

But the sacrifice was not the end of the story, it was merely a parenthesis. What this means for us is as we go through life from year to year, and as we continue our journey in this season of Lent, we must become more aware of the interaction between what makes us happy and what gives us joy.

The interaction between these two realities can oftentimes be difficult to decipher. But that does not mean it is impossible. We should make the effort in understanding this relationship now more than ever.

Lent 2022 | Day 19: Gathered

There has been a lot of conversation in the last couple of years about what it means to be the Church. In this time in history, when much of the world has been affected by a global pandemic, the church has to reflect on what it means to be the Church. The struggle has been around discerning what it means to be the body of Christ. Particularly in light of the rules imposed upon large groups of people by governments around the world.

In the midst of these new challenges, insights have been gained as a result of extended periods of separation and even isolation. In the opening chapters of the Bible God tells the first man it is not good for him to be alone. And an implication is that isolation is not good for anyone!

The immediate context of his declaration is Adam’s discovery that of all of God’s creatures man was without companionship. And so while there is much that can be said about the need for community and fellowship as individual members of society, there is also a lesson about what it means for us to be a community of faith.

In the New Testament, we find the admonition that we should not refrain from gathering together for worship and instruction. There is no prescription as to what that should look like. But there is a warning that we should not keep ourselves from coming together regularly. We should ask ourselves why is this oftentimes is something we have avoided.

The gathering of God’s people is not merely a social event. The community of God exists to foster the kind of growth which leads us to a deeper appreciation of God’s grace.

I think the challenge of understanding the gathered nature of the church hinges on our understanding of what it means to be people created in the image of God. For those of us who hold to a Trinitarian understanding of the Godhead, the notion of divine community makes sense. While we do not fully understand how God exists within the divine essence we can know that God exists in perfect community. The mystery of the Trinity is not something that can be explained. It is a truth of faith that is revealed and must be believed.

This reality of God’s own existence helps us to see that as image bearers we too will find our emotional and communal needs satisfied when we gather together with others who share the journey with us. The gathering of God’s people is not merely a social event. The community of God exists to foster the kind of growth which leads us to a deeper appreciation of God’s grace. Not only are there opportunities for instruction and correction but there are opportunities for sharing in one another’s lives. This sharing includes the celebration of the joys in the distribution of the burdens among those who are doing life together. This is a key element of the community of God.

One of the wonderful aspects of celebrating the season of Lent is this shared experience of reflecting and preparing for Easter morning. All over the world there are countless millions of Christians who in this season slow down enough to remember all God has been doing in their lives. By doing this we give testimony to the grace of God offered to everyone who finds themselves alone. Being grafted into the body of Christ gives us access to a fellowship that fosters our development as the children of God.

And so we gather together not merely to perform religious ceremonies or to receive doctrinal instruction but to enjoy the company of those with whom we share a common faith.

Lent 2022 | Day 18: Endures

The focus of our thought today is the word endures.

This is an interesting word for at least two reasons. First, it conjures in my mind the idea of continued effort. We live in a world where we have instant access to information. Instant access to entertainment. Instant access to new friends made around the world. It would appear that our threshold for patience has been diminishing with the advancement of technology. This decrease in our ability to delay gratification has truly created a circumstance in which people seemingly cannot control their displeasure when what they want is not readily available.

When we as a group of people or as individuals are consumed by our own sense of entitlement we no longer fear or care about harming others in order to get what we want. This may seem like a dark and pessimistic view of the world. But I would disagree. If we accept what the Scripture tells us about the human heart, that is wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), that it is made of stone (Hebrews 8:10), and that it is deceitful we can calibrate our engagement with the world more consistently.

Second, the word endures serves as a reminder that the goal is not just around the corner. It is the difference between the proverbial marathon and sprint. This imagery is often used to describe the need for us to recognize that some goals will take time to achieve. It may seem a bit trite to some, but I find it helpful to remember that most things in life will not happen immediately.

The most important things in life will take time to do well.

In the midst of the daily grind of living, we should not lose sight of the fact that the most important things in life will take time to do well. When we try to short-circuit the process of growing and maturing as individuals we invariably deny ourselves the wisdom that is earned in the process. The longer we cut corners the more difficult it becomes to grow.

The ever-growing tendency that we have to find the quickest and easiest route to where we’re going blinds us in ways we do not always anticipate. Every choice we make has consequences. And every consequence impacts the future choices we will make. This is why it is better to decide more slowly than to make quick decisions in the heat of the moment. When we are deliberate in our decision-making process we create the room we need in order to achieve the goals we have set. This is not a guarantee, but it does improve our chances of success.

In this season of Lent, we are called to a time of self-denial for a period of 40 days. In that time we may find ourselves trying to get out of the burden of it. But if we convince ourselves that this is just an arbitrary activity we will have proven to ourselves that we have not understood what it means to endure. Just because something can be classified as mundane or ordinary does not mean that it cannot have a lasting effect.

As we continue toward Easter morning take this time to ask yourself why you should choose to endure?

Lent 2022 | Day 17: Thanks

In a season of contemplation and reflection, it’s important to stop and remember all the reasons why we can be thankful. Even in difficult times, there is room to appreciate the blessings we have access to, no matter how small. And so in this season of Lent, I think it’s important to look around us and get a sense of all God has been doing in our lives.

Giving thanks can be challenging when we see it has an obligation. But giving thanks is not something we should do because we feel the person deserves it. Giving thanks is what we do when we want to acknowledge what someone is done for us, blessing us in the process. When we give thanks as a response to the kindness of others it is a small token in light of the gift.

I am reminded of the story of the 10 lepers who as they passed Jesus asked him to heal them. Once the healing had taken place they went on their way rejoicing over the change of fortune that they had experienced. But the writer tells us there was one who came back to Jesus. That one offered his thanks to Christ while the others did not. We can ask ourselves why? What was it about this man that led him to make that choice?

When we give thanks as a response to the kindness of others it is a small token in light of the gift.

We will never know for sure this side of eternity. But I think it is worth considering that this man, when he realized what it meant that he could return to his life as he remembered it, was moved by the miracle of his healing. All the memories that sustained him up until that moment would become real again. Not merely distant recollections of a life he thought he would never return to.

While these are just assumptions based on what I imagine would be my response to the same event, I think many of us would confront the same doubts and fears as this man did. None of us ever really knows what we will do in difficult times. We can think about it and conceive of various scenarios of what we would do. But it’s not until we are living in the moment that we know for certain what we will do. This is the challenge of living life for a tomorrow that is known only to God.

As we continue our steady move towards the celebration of Christ’s resurrection we should remember all the reasons we have to give thanks. There may be some who could say they don’t have very many reasons for giving thanks. As difficult as it may be, if you find yourself in that position, I believe it is worth the effort to remember that if the only thing Jesus ever did for us was die for our sin that is enough to provide us entrance into eternal rest.

This kind of perspective is not always easy to sustain. However, it is worth trying to remember, as often as we can, the wonder of our salvation. A salvation purchased by the precious blood of Jesus and secured by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So my encouragement to all of us is to lift our eyes just a little bit higher; to not allow the affairs of this world to discourage us too much, and to put our trust in God to fulfill his word and promises to us.

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