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Church Leadership Journal Meditations Wisdom

The Purpose of Lent

Did you ever wonder what is the purpose of Lent? Maybe, like me, you didn’t grow up with a Lenten emphasis. In the country Wesleyan Church of my childhood, I don’t remember the church routine changing until Palm Sunday. But over my years as a pastor I began to appreciate more and more the power of the traditional Christian observance of Lent to strengthen our discipleship and deepen our spiritual journey. Now in retirement years, I am still finding Lent to be very meaningful and for multiple reasons.

Lenten Cross

A reminder to focus on Jesus

Above all, Lent is a time for worship and adoration of Jesus. There are certainly all kinds of helpful topics to explore in church services and personal Bible study, but in order to keep the perspective that we need to address these other issues well, we must first keep the admonition to “fix your thoughts on Jesus” (Heb. 3:1, 12:2). Whatever methods we choose to observe the Lenten season, they will only be a real success for us if they help us to look up to God, to “draw near” to God who has promised in the midst of our seeking to draw near to us (James 4:8)! So the first question in our plans is not “How will I deny myself?” Rather the first measure for evaluating our Lenten observances is, “How do they help me/us to worship Jesus, to obey the Father’s voice, “This is my beloved Son! Listen to him” (Mark 9:7 ESV)!

Confessing our sins is healthy renewal

A Time of Repentance

There is a haunting verse in the Bible that says, “In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin” (Ps 36:2 NIV). That verse makes me uncomfortable and I am afraid it speaks of us much of the time. We quickly condemn sins we see in others while ignoring our own or excusing ourselves. But perhaps my spiritual discomfort is healthy, akin to the kind of discomfort caused by strong exercise. Remember that Jesus admonished us to “First take the plank out of your own eye! (Matt. 7:5 NIV). The good news is that observing Lent gives us space to do the hard work of confronting ourselves where we need it. To move closer to a Holy God is to become more aware of our unholiness and to find in our hearts a Spirit-birthed desire for transformation. To witness again the commitment of Jesus in his journey to the cross for our sakes is to hate our own wavering, and to renew our own commitments to following Him. In our interactions with the world around us, our Christianity loses its edge, it becomes desensitized and dulled by the assault of temptations. But Lent gives us an opportunity to hone our edge again as the Rock of Our Salvation shapes our minds and spirits with his own.

Be prepared

An aid in preparing for the difficult times

Lent provides space to to delve into difficult yet important and relevant topics that we might tend to avoid if it were not for the annual call to wrestle anew with Jesus’ journey to the cross, his betrayal, his time in Gethsemane, etc. For example, recently my pastor’s Lenten message explored how we can react when God seems absent in our struggles, the thought that is voiced in Psalm 22:1 which Jesus quoted from the cross. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” We all like “feel good,” “Blessed Assurance” messages, and we need them frequently, but unless we also mull over and digest the sobering lessons of Lent, we may find ourselves ill-prepared for real life with its trials, disappointments, and injustices. But Lent has a way of reminding us that life is often not ideal and then helping us deal with that brokenness.

self control illustrated

An annual nudge toward greater self-control

I have also always appreciated the Lenten emphasis on self-discipline. I confess that I perennially need more of that. Though traditionally associated with fasting, I find that the scope of Lenten discipline is best broadened so the Holy Spirit can guide us as churches and individuals into the alterations of habits that will be most beneficial for us. Sometimes the goal will be a temporary one enduring just for the season; other times the idea of our Lenten discipline will be to use the season’s impetus to jumpstart us to a new level. I offer ten quick suggestions of various disciplines I have found helpful over the years while celebrating Lent. I include them to spark your own thinking.

  • Read a book that challenges my spiritual growth
  • Volunteer to help in a ministry of the church or do a community service, perhaps visit someone in a nursing home
  • Contribute to a disaster/poverty relief organization
  • Abstain from food for a meal or a few meals and spend that time in prayer
  • Add fifteen to thirty minutes to my daily devotional time
  • Keep track of calories
  • Attend additional church services such as on Good Friday and/or Easter Sunrise
  • Abstain from or limit online time and/or apps
  • Join a small group at church for growth, service, and/or study
  • Set Lenten goals for my exercise regimen

Do not seek God as if He were far off in an ivory castle. He is found in the middle of the events of your everyday life. Look past the obstacles and find Him.

Fenelon, The Seeking Heart, p. 15

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Journal

The Guide to Making Good Daily Habits and Breaking Bad Ones – Finds.Life.Church

Break that bad habit and make good daily habits with identity goals, keystone habits, and these free resources. Tomorrow doesn’t have to be the same.
— Read on finds.life.church/the-ultimate-guide-to-good-daily-habits/

This is an excellent article with good depth and practical wisdom as well. I highly recommend it.

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Journal Meditations Wisdom

Real faith Involves discipline

A gem from my favorite devotional

One of my favorite devotional books is a little volume titled, “A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants” by Ruben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck, (The Upper Room, 1983).   A rich collection of readings for each week,  taken from various classic Christian authors always  provokes thought and provides inspiration.    This last week I discovered again a quote from Albert Edward Day taken from his book “Discipline and Discovery.”  I found it so amazingly relevant to our world today and to the state of the church today that I thought I would share it with my readers. 

True faith calls us to disciplines of discipleship

True holiness is a witness that cannot be ignored.  Real sainthood is a phenomenon to which even the world laying pays tribute.  The power of a life, where Christ is exalted, would arrest and subdue those who are bored to tears by our thin version of Christianity and holy uninterested in mere churchman ship.

We have talked much of salvation by faith, but there has been little realization that all real faith involves discipline.  Faith is not a blithe “turning it all over to Jesus.” Faith is such a confidence in Jesus that it takes seriously his summons, “if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

We have loudly proclaimed our dependence upon the grace of God, never guessing that the grace of God is given only to those who practice the grace of self-mastery.  “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for God is at work in you both to will and to work his good pleasure.”  People working out, God working in – that is the New Testament synthesis.

Humans, working out their salvation alone, are a pathetic spectacle – hopelessly defeated moralists trying to elevate themselves by their own bootstraps.

God, seeking to work in a person who offers no discipline cooperation, is a heartbreaking spectacle – a defeated Savior trying to free, from sins and earthiness, a person who will not lift his or her face out of the dust, or shake off the shackles of the egocentric self.

We must recover for ourselves the significance and the necessity of the spiritual disciplines.  Without them we shall continue to be impotent witnesses for Christ.  Without them Christ will be impotent in his efforts to use us to save our society from disintegration and death.    

                                               –Albert Edward Day

 

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Journal Joy Notes

Fifty Days of Refreshing — 7 Ways to Grow Your Faith

Practical Suggestions for Our Spiritual Growth

During our 50 Days of Refreshing Emphasis leading up to Easter,  I hope to add several posts and pages encouraging spiritual practices that will help us all to seek God during these weeks of our collective spiritual journey.    This has been on my heart but I was short of time to write.  This morning God helped me to find this video clip that the Wesleyan Church has done to guide new Christians in being disciples of Christ. It is a good review for all of us. 

7 Ways to Grow Your Faith.