March 6: Repent
Read Psalm 32; Romans 10:8-13
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
I have a friend who isn’t a big Lent fan. He sees Lent as an attempt to pretend that Jesus hasn’t died yet as we wait to remember his death on Good Friday and the resurrection on Easter Sunday.
He has a point. Jesus already died and has already been raised. Lent exists, in part, because we human beings have an incredible knack for complacency and for taking things for granted. If we aren’t careful, we rush past Christ’s death and resurrection and give them no more thought than who won the Blues game last night or what the weather will be like.
“Lent” comes from an Old English word that literally means “lengthening of days” or “springtime”. It is a time of preparation, a time to return to the desert and join Jesus in preparing for ministry. He allowed himself to be tested and if we take seriously our call to follow him, we will too.
Lent began in the fourth century. It is associated with penitence, fasting, charity, and prayer. There is a giving up that is balanced by a giving to those in need. It’s an opportunity, not a requirement. It’s an opportunity to join in the church’s springtime, “a time when, out of the darkness of sin’s winter, a repentant, empowered people emerges.”
Lent is a season we should be surprised by joy. We give something up, not to check a box or to make ourselves look good in the eyes of God and his people. We lay aside a right desire of our heart to pursue the One who should be our heart’s deepest longing. We seek to be closer to Jesus. In him – his suffering, his death, his resurrection, his ascension – we find our truest joy!
Recently I read that many church fathers and mothers of centuries past spoke of a sense that many of us have that something in our lives is not quite right. We feel we missed something important and have somehow been “untrue to ourselves, to others, to God.” Lent is a good time to examine that feeling. It’s a good time to let go of excuses for our failings and shortcomings. It’s a good time to ask God to help us see our selves the way he does.
Lent is a good time to repent. Repentance is the act of changing our mind, but more than that, it’s turning away from something that is outside of God’s will, confessing our error, and turning toward God’s will.
Jesus over came all our sin in his death and resurrection. We don’t need to pretend it hasn’t happened yet. In Psalm 32:1-2, David declares, “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” He goes on to say that when he kept silent, his sin weighed him down. When he confessed his sin, God lifted it from him. We are forgiven. Paul wrote in Romans 10:13, For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Lent is a time to for us to repent, to recalibrate our hearts to live in the forgiveness and freedom that is ours in Christ. John the Baptist said, “[Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease (John 3:30). May we discover afresh Jesus, our scarred, weak, wretched, crucified, dying Savior in the midst of the gods of this age that would lure us away.
Questions for Reflection:
What has been your experience with Lent? What do you look forward to? What do you dread?
Where do you have a sense of things not being quite right or dis-ease in your life? Where do you think that comes from? Talk to God about it and ask him to help you see yourself as he does.
If it reflects the desire of your heart, ask God to make Jesus increase and you decrease. Ask him to draw you closer to him during Lent.
Readings this week:
March 7: Psalm 17; 1 John 2:1-6
March 8: Zechariah 3:1-10; 2 Peter 2:4-21
March 9: Job 1:1-22; Luke 21:34-22:6
March 10: Genesis 13:1-7; 14-18; Philippians 3:1-12
March 11: Genesis 14:17-24; Philippians 3:17-20
March 12: Psalm 118:19-29; Matthew 23:37-39
March 13: Psalm 27; Luke 9:28-43a