Lent 2019 - Jeremiah's Vow

Lent 2019 | Day 3: The Challenge of Grace

For the last couple of days, we have looked at a couple facets of God’s grace in our lives. Today, I want to look at grace, not from God’s perspective, but from ours. What I mean is that after we have become aware of the breadth of God’s grace we are confronted with a significant challenge. That challenge is to become ambassadors of God’s grace to the world.

The world is a hard place to live in sometimes, but we have been enabled and empowered to live in it. There are many ways for us to be distracted but God has given us everything we will need to live for him in this crazy world.

I find that the great challenge is to take what we have received to those God will bring into our lives. We don’t have to be afraid to talk to people of what God has done. We are works in progress. We are in the path of sanctification. We are not what we are supposed to be, but if we stay faithful to the truth of the Gospel, the truth of God’s grace we will find the challenge is still present. Just not a burden that causes us to be hindered.

I pray that we will see the call of God to be ambassadors of Christ to be a challenge worth taking and not a challenge needing to be avoided.

Lent 2019 | Day 2: The Mystery of Grace

Whenever I think about God’s grace I tend to alternate between thankfulness and confusion. I am thankful that God’s love has made a way for us to have fellowship with him. I am thankful that when I heard the Gospel I believed and now have the hope of eternal life. I am thankful that God has given grace and mercy when what I deserved were judgment and wrath.

But I am also confused. Why would God do this? Why would God be gracious to me, a sinner? Why would God provide a way of escape to those who most often make selfish choices? I am not qualified to answer these questions. They are mysteries that reside within the person of God. Only God can answer why he has afforded a fallen humanity grace for eternal life.

But the mystery does give me hope. It gives me hope because, in spite of my insecurities and fallen nature, I have come to know that I have been born again. Sure, there I days when I struggle to hold onto that hope. But, most days I remember that it was not by any works of righteousness I have done that salvation was gifted to me. God has given me the gift of salvation by his gracious love and mercy. He knows I am incapable of ascending to him, but he has already proven that he is willing and able to descend to us.

Jesus is proof of God’s love and grace. Jesus is the fulfillment of every promise God ever made. When Jesus walked on the earth, he was a living, physical, perfect representation of everything God had said he was going to do in and for sinners. The mystery is difficult to explain, but it is not too difficult that it can’t be experienced.

We may be tempted to ask a plethora of “why” questions and never quite be satisfied with the answer for why God is gracious. But when we ask the “how” question of grace—How have we received God’s grace?—the answer is quite simple. We have received grace because of Jesus.

Lent 2019 | Day 1: The Wonder of Grace

The concept of grace is the central reality we should all seek to understand if we want to make any sense of humanity’s relationship with God.

In the Christian theological system, the concept of grace is the central reality we should all seek to understand if we want to make any sense of humanity’s relationship with God. The Scriptures reveal that all of mankind has fallen so terribly short of the glory of God. And, because of this fallen condition, we can see how distant we can be from God and from each other.

The world seems to be growing more chaotic, sliding farther into disarray. You just have to spend a few minutes on social media or on a news site to see what I mean. We can deny it if we want to, but we cannot escape the effects of a world filled with sinners.

In spite of this reality and into the midst of this quagmire of foolishness God sent his Son. In the person of Jesus of Nazareth, God was accomplishing his work of redemption. He was provided as the final answer to the problem that plagues the world. On the cross of Calvary and in the death God’s anointed Messiah, the ultimate reprieve was achieved.

The work of making a way to life eternal had been completed. Do we still have to wait for its consummation in our experience? Yes. But the promise of eternal fellowship with God has been guaranteed for all who will repent of their sin and entrust their lives completely to Jesus. This is the wonder of Grace. That God has not only provided a way of escape, but he is also continually offering this way the lost.

During this season of Lent, I encourage you to take some time and wonder at God’s grace again. Don’t let a day go by thinking that you understand it. It is too big, too good to say that we do.

Lent 2019: Forsaking all for the sake of Christ

It truly is amazing how something as simple as the liturgical calendar can help you to refocus your attention on what God is doing in the world and in your life.

I was reintroduced to the liturgical calendar when I began serving in a United Methodist Church in the winter of 2009. I knew that some traditions of the Church used a calendar to mark the seasons, but I did not grow up with it. Or at least it was not something at the top of my consciousness as a regular churchgoer.

It truly is amazing how something as simple as the liturgical calendar can help you to refocus your attention on what God is doing in the world and in your life. As I have embraced this new awareness and rhythm in my own life, I have found myself more mindful and present to God’s work.

Today is Ash Wednesday. The ashes imposed on the foreheads of believers during the service are the burned remains of the palms of previous years Palm Sunday. (At least that is what I was told they were supposed to be!) There are a few reasons for this, but for me, one symbol this represents is that we all must embrace our own culpability in the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus entered the great city of Jerusalem and was welcomed by a throng of people declaring that he was the long-awaited Messiah. And yet, just days later, many of those who welcomed him to the city was denying and decrying him as a criminal.

The cost of following Jesus is enacted when we accept our own part in the drama of Ash Wednesday. Where our lipservice and empty praise is burned up and all that is left is the black ash of sin. We all must remember that we are dust, and to dust, we shall return. The only hope we have is found in the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Gospel is the telling (and retelling) of the old story that all of humanity can never ascend into God’s throne room. We must be brought in by one who is worthy. And that one is Jesus.

The purpose of the season of Lent is to call us all to intentionally forsake some convenience or habit so that we might dedicate time and energy to God. The practice of forsaking the things of this world for the sake of Christ should not be limited to a few weeks a year. It is the life-long call to obedience we have accepted as disciples of Christ. But, we forget to do it. And, because we do, the Church calendar make it a point to call us back to this important discipline. My prayer in this season of Lent is that I would see my forsaking of the things of this world as a gift and not a chore. As an opportunity and not an obstacle. As a time for renewal and not a season of toil.