Liturgical Calendar - Jeremiah's Vow

Lent Day #15 | Silence

Silence. It is a quality that is uncomfortable to be in. Many of us have never been in a space where complete silence has been achieved. I think if we were ever put in a situation where were would have to be completely silent we would not know what to do.

I came across an interesting article about an anechoic chamber, supposedly the quietest place in the world. I think what stood out as I read the article was how complete silence can affect our perception of what is happening. In the chamber all sound is deadened, but as your ears adjust you being to hear the sound of your heart and lungs; of your blood as it travels through your veins and arteries. I have never experienced this, but I wonder what that would be like.

anechoic chamber

Silence can be unsettling. I have had opportunities to get in a quiet place a few times in my life. It was not easy. It took some time to focus my mind, but in the end I found myself turning my attention toward God. I think what I found most interesting during these times of silence is how difficult it was to gather my thoughts and focus my attention. It was as if in the silence there was nothing serving as a boundary and I was the one creating the boundary of my conscious thoughts.

I would encourage you to take some time and seek God in silence. You may find it is more difficult that you would have anticipated.

Lent Day #14 | Reset

One of the principles my dad taught me about communication is that words have meaning. Therefore, it is important to know the meaning of words.

One of the principles my dad taught me about communication is that words have meaning. Therefore, it is important to know the meaning of words. This principle has been a major part of my development as a person, because I have placed a significant value on words and using them. Over the course of my life and ministry I have seen how misused or even misunderstood words create confusion and hurt.

reset button As we continue our journey through this Lent season, I am reminded of this simple word: RESET. If we break down this word we find that it is a compound of the prefix “re-” and the word “set”. Whenever this prefix is used we are saying that some action will be done again. Examples like repeat, remind, return, relive, etc., come to mind. There was an action and then a repetition follows. When we look at “reset” we are saying that we are taking something back to its set, or original position.

What I have learned in life is it does not come with a reset button. There is no way of undoing what has been done. We are left with one of two choices. We can learn and grow, or we can continue to make the same mistakes. The only guarantee in life is the untiring march of time. We will never begin more time and we don’t know when our time will be up. All we can do is keep moving.

So, why even talk about resetting? Because what can be reset is our mind. The way we think about our lives and circumstances can be altered. The process of resetting our perspective is difficult, but I would argue worth the effort. We can go back to what God had in mind when he created humanity. We were created to have fellowship with God. Our communion with God can be reset when we place our trust in Christ. Putting our confidence in Jesus’ sacrifice is the only means available to us for a hope-filled existence. At that moment, we are back to what God had in mind from the beginning. This return is needed if we are going to see God’s plan the way God planned it. In this season of Lent, take some time and reset your thinking to be more inline with God’s.

Lent Day #13 | Surrender

For the Christian, surrender is initiated when the beauty and majesty of God leaves no doubt within their heart and mind that to be ruled by God is better than to rule oneself.

Within the Christian world, the idea of surrender has a peculiar twist distinguishing it from its more common definition. When the word “surrender” is used there is usually the idea of conflict between two opposing factions. In the end, one of those groups recognizes their demise and chooses to cease fighting and turn themselves over to their opponents. The central concept is that conflict brings about the surrender.

Within the Christian worldview, surrender is not brought about by conflict (although this is not an entirely improbable possibility). For the Christian, surrender is initiated when the beauty and majesty of God leaves no doubt within their heart and mind that to be ruled by God is better than to rule oneself. The mystery here is in seeing that the motivation emanates from God’s character rather than his power.

hands outstretched

When I look at Jesus’ example I see a life surrendered to God, not because God would conquer, but rather because he was allowing himself to be conquered, which is preferable. To put it another way, we are talking about the difference between an enemy and a lover. When one soul gives itself to another, love and passion are what are exchanged. This is the image of the marriage chamber. God’s love for us is intimate and passionate. He does not merely want to crush us, he wants us to be wooed and enthralled with his majesty and utter beauty.

It can be uncomfortable for us to think of God in this way, but that is exactly the image we are given in the bible. Jesus has returned to his Father’s house to prepare a place for us. Too often, this “us” is understood in the plural. However, Jesus is described as the bridegroom. He will return for his bride, singular. We who believe have become a part of the one bride who Jesus died to redeem and purify. Therefore, the language of the scriptures is that of lovers and marriage.

As we continue our journey towards Easter morning remember that God’s love for you is not academic. It is real, personal and unquenchable. Jesus loves us and he is not indifferent to our circumstances. Why would we not want to give ourselves to him.

Lent Day #12 | Think about these things

When we come to Christ, repent of our sins, and trust in Him for our redemption we are righting the error of the human condition. That error is the delusion that peace and joy and truth will be found within us.

Finally, brothers,
whatever is true,
whatever is honorable,
whatever is just,
whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable,
if there is any excellence,
if there is anything worthy of praise,
THINK about these things. — Philippians 4:8

I find the admonition to think about “these” things to be an interesting one. The reason may be that the call to engage our minds in the deepening of our faith is unique in the world of religious expression. Meditation, another way of describing what Paul says here, is common in many different religions around the world. What makes the Christian understanding of meditation unique is in what we are called to meditate on. The focus of our meditation is external to our being. We are not encouraged to look inward to find something there. Rather, we are pointed to an external source to find clarity.

The process of transformation within the Christian faith is found in our displacing our ego as the central object of focus, and replacing it with something greater than ourselves. When we come to Christ, repent of our sins, and trust in Him for our redemption we are righting the error of the human condition. That error is the delusion that peace and joy and truth will be found within us. Our limitations makes this effort fruitless, and yet, there are many who would orient their lives around this flawed principle.

The power of the Gospel is who it sheds divine illumination on our problem. We are broken spirits. Our identity is the summation of our achievements or giftedness. Who we are can only be discovered when the architect of our being realigns perception, bringing it into proper alignment with his character. What this means is that without Jesus clarifying who he is–the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15)–we are lost in our search of who we are.

There is a quote attributed to C. S. Lewis that I find appropriate here. The reason I find it so compelling is in the way Lewis clearly and succinctly states why Jesus is so important to our spiritual growth.

C. S. Lewis Quote

When we move out of the way so that God can rule and reign in our lives we will be in proper relationship with God. I believe these are the things that we should be thinking on. I hope that you do.

Lent Day #11 | Study

Studying is not supposed to be a chore. As a matter of fact, I think study should be a blessing and an opportunity to grow wider and deeper.

I hope the word “study” did not conjure up terrible childhood memories. If I am honest, there are memories I cherish and then there are memories I would rather never bring back to mind. However, studying is not supposed to be a chore. As a matter of fact, I think study should be a blessing and an opportunity to grow wider and deeper.

Student
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Second Sunday of Lent | “He is…” by Aaron Jeoffrey

Glory to God for all that He is!

Lent Day #10 | Sabbath

The topic for today is a word and a practice not understood anymore. Well, at least I don’t think so. The idea of Sabbath describes taking rest. However, this definition is too simplistic to really be beneficial. When God talks about sabbath he is not merely saying to us stop activities or chores. There is a deeper dimension that is being described. As followers of Christ and children of God we called to take sabbath rest so that we can focus wholeheartedly on God. God has established the sabbath for us.

Let’s think about this for a moment. I find it interesting that God’s care for us extends even to our tendency to find our purpose and fulfillment in what we do, rather than in our relationship with him. However, God has commanded that we keep the sabbath because in doing so we acknowledge we are mortal and fragile. We can not just go and go and not expect to break down at some point.

The reality of our life’s is this, we have to take a break. We have talked about that some already. God does not want is to miss out on one of the most basic wonders of life, the ability to stop and marvel at what we are experiencing.

Why did God stop on the seventh day? Because after he had finished on the sixth day he saw that “it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). If we follow God’s example we will see we need to take time and enjoy what we have been able to do through the week. But, more importantly, we need to take time to give thanks to God for what he has done throughout the week.

As we journey through Lent I pray that we will grow I our enjoyment of the beauty that surrounds us by taking time to enjoy it.

Lent Day #9 | Joy

God is not interested in merely keeping us out of hell. God wants to infuse our being with a clear vision of himself.

Joy is the ever elusive quality in most of our lives. It may be that many of us have settled for being happy, even if that is a fleeting reality. Joy is unlike anything else in the human experience. The reason for this is that joy is not founded on the circumstances of life. Many of us have heard this definition before. What happens many times is this, we have confused the source of our joy with the toys of our happiness.

Joy Sunset

God did not send Jesus into this world to satisfy our childish longings. Jesus came into this world to provide us a means to experience eternal joy. The gift of God in Jesus to us is access to an elevated perspective. When we see how God was working out our salvation in the cross of Calvary, we are led to a deeper sense of purpose and power. The Gospel Jesus preached was not so we would feel better about ourselves. The purpose of the Gospel is to help us grow in our appreciation of God and what he has done and will bring to completion in us!

God is not interested in merely keeping us out of hell. God wants to infuse our being with a clear vision of himself. When we see him as he is, we are drawn ever closer, like a moth to a flame. We can not help ourselves. We have been found so that we can be lost in him.

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. —1 John 3:2-3

John apparently had an expectation that one day, he would see Jesus again. This expectation was based on Jesus’ promise to return. The reality of Jesus coming back was so fixed in John’s mind that he admonished the recipients of his letter to consider the implications of this future event. As far as John was concerned, what was to come was so magnificent and so wonderful, that it became the catalyst for living in a manner worthy of that coming event. Our hope of what is coming will be what fuels the fire of our joy, sustaining and stoking it to greater intensity.

I am learning that our joy should be an ever increasing, constantly intensifying reality in our lives. Is this true for you? If not, what needs to change today so that tomorrow will be different?

Lent Day #8 | Satisfaction

When we talk about being satisfied in God we are talking about experiencing and understanding who God is and then having that awareness and presence filling us continually.

Satisfaction is an interesting idea because in our culture it means getting what we want, when we want it. The direction of this concept is that if I have a desire and I will go and find someone who has the thing that will meet this desire. While this is not an entirely inaccurate definition of the word, what we, as followers of Christ fail to remember is that the filling of our desires can only be found in God. Not in what God can provide, but in God himself.
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Lent Day #7 | Transformation

I think the problem with transformation is that we have to surrender control to God.

One of my favorite activities growing up was getting a new Lego® set and putting it together. It would not take me very long to do it, but once I was finished I didn’t really want to play with it. I just wanted to look at it and make sense of how all these different blocks and pieces were able to make this car or house or airplane. One of the realities I discovered about myself in the process was that I was not very creative. I loved following the instructions and seeing the final product, but the idea of taking the pieces apart and creating something original was not within my grasp.
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