Lent – A Season of … Renewal
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For the majority of the weeks during the church season of Lent, I will share a few thoughts on some of the various approaches Christians might take at this time of the year when we reflect upon the suffering Jesus endured in order to redeem us. There are many appropriate actions and reactions for a believer as he or she contemplates Jesus’ crucifixion … and thankfully also his resurrection.
These posts during Lent will form the basis of our Wednesday evening worship discussions. I pray they provide wonderful food for thought, and blessed encouragement to all of us!
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Who doesn’t love the renewal that spring brings? Who doesn’t need that renewal after a long winter?
Spring is such a fitting name for the season as a multitude of things spring forth at this time of year. Day by day the sunlight shines a bit longer and the temperatures slowly ramp higher. The grass greens and gradually resumes its growth. Deciduous trees pop their leaves and early season annuals burst from their beds. Soon the flowering trees and shrubs will be arrayed in all their blooming splendor. Thoughts, dreams and plans for summer activities and vacations start to materialize and are eagerly anticipated.
So very many wonderful things spring to life in the renewing atmosphere of spring!
We’re all different in our approach to life, in the gifts we have been given, in the energy levels we sustain, and in how long we can go until we hit the proverbial wall. But sooner or later the wall wins with everyone. It is inevitable.
We all need physical, mental, emotional and spiritual renewal. The wise recognize this; the foolish sprint foolishly forward until they slam face-first into the bricks. Those who are really wise “intentionalize” their renewal to soften damaging collisions or even avoid them altogether.
The season of spring is naturally imbued with renewal, which is wonderful and certainly beneficial to one’s general well-being and uplifting to their overall attitude. This is good! Any boost to our physical, mental and emotional welfare is a blessing!
But what the season of spring doesn’t renew is our soul. That comes through contact with the Gospel. (Romans 1:16). Which leads us nicely to a season that can renew us spiritually – the season of Lent. The truly wise understand that the most crucial renewal is a spiritual one, and they actively seek it.
Traditionally the 40 days of Lent are regarded as days of self-sacrifice and denial, and extra devotion to the Lord. (The number 40 being in recognition of the Israelites struggling in the desert for 40 years before the Lord brought them into the Promised Land, and Jesus’ 40 days of fasting and temptation before beginning his earthly ministry.) Consequently, in the early history of the Christian Church fasting of some fashion for the season was commonplace.
Today Lent is still regarded as a time of repentance and solemn reflection; a time when believers spend a little extra time focusing on Jesus’ suffering, crucifixion and death. And so it should be!
Jesus didn’t allow himself to be nailed to a cross simply to undergo a new experience or a grand adventure. He deliberately went to that agony to offer the only atonement his Heavenly Father would accept for your and my transgressions. If he didn’t, we were lost. Doomed. Damned. There was no other solution. So in unimaginable love Jesus – God himself! – sacrificed himself.
For believers who recognize this profound truth, it must elicit a reaction. Repentance surely. Awe and wonder undoubtedly. Believing disbelief that the Lord would go to such great lengths to rescue me.
And renewal of our souls. A new rebirth springing in our hearts each Lenten season like a blossoming bud brought forth by the life-bringing light of the Gospel. The wilted remains of doubt and discouragement replaced by new growth of faith, hope and joy.
Jesus loves me. Jesus died for me. Jesus lives again. Jesus saved me.
That’s great news to the soul – the ultimate renewal!
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Psalm 51:7-12
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Titus 3:3-8
At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
This is a trustworthy saying.
Isaiah 40:28-31
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
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