Deciding to follow Jesus is truly unique. On one side, the joy and peace found through faith in Christ are unparalleled. The presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives brings an abundant wave of love and goodness. However, many of us are also well-acquainted with disappointment and heartache. The pain and sin we encounter in this world are genuine and intense.
The days we live are a mix of grace and stress. We have the power to make ongoing daily choices. These decisions either bring our inner life closer to Christ or move it away from Him. Leading a life devoted to God demands a daily renewal of surrender and trust.
The brave grace of Lent encourages all of us to:
Courageously enter into self-denial that transforms.
Lovingly identify those things that separate us from Jesus.
Astutely prepare our hearts and lives for the Kingdom of God.
Lent is like the spring bird that visits my window after winter, singing a unique worship song of reflection, repentance, and renewal. Participating in a 40-day Lenten journey guides me on a transformative path of self-denial. This journey includes fasting from distractions that hinder my connection with God and deepening my desire to meet Jesus through my personal form of resistance. In the specific areas where I choose self-denial, I invite Christ to reside. Ultimately, Lent offers a chance to focus and let God heal my broken heart anew. It's an annual journey available to every traveler, whether they are in the valley or on the mountaintop.
N.T. Wright explains, “… left to ourselves, we lapse into a kind of collusion with entropy, acquiescing in the general belief that things may be getting worse but that there’s nothing much we can do about them. And we are wrong. Our task in the present … is to live as resurrection people in between Easter and the final day, with our Christian life, corporate and individual, in both worship and mission, as a sign of the first and a foretaste of the second.” [1]
Embracing the courageous grace of Lent involves believing that my actions—such as kneeling in prayer, reading to gain knowledge, actively listening, aspiring to grow, and participating—are only part of the process. The truly transformative brave grace of Lent lies in trusting that God will take care of the rest.
We experience a decline in personal, Spirit-guided actions if we continue to favor the comfort of earthly tendencies over the supernatural presence of the Living God. To truly experience profound, soul-deep hope, we must decide to abandon everything that allows us to avoid the discomfort of our nature and choose to walk in the light.
Manning explains that "... there is no growth without pain, no integrity without self-denial, and neither are particularly attractive apart from the personal love of Jesus Christ". [2]
The Lenten journey primarily brings me to the foot of the cross, reminding me that the cost of love was the crucifixion of God's son. Blood poured from my Savior's broken body, who died to ensure I could be with Him eternally. As Alicia Britt Chole points out, “Decrease is holy only when its destination is love”[3]
Let's observe how our stories transform as we embrace Ash Wednesday to reflect, fast, and pray, allowing us to be reminded once more of the resurrection power present in Easter.
When we find the courage to embrace the brave grace of Lent today, regardless of our situations, desires, sins, or shame ... we recall that in the end, God's love envelops, sanctifies, forgives, and heals us all.
[1] Wright, N.T. 2022. On Earth as In Heaven: Daily Wisdom for 21st Century Christians. HarperCollins Publishers. New York, NY. p 13.
[2] Manning, Brennan. 2003. A Glimpse of Jesus: The Stranger to Self-Hatred. HarperCollins Publishers. New York, NY. p 114.
[3] Chole, Alicia Britt. 2016. 40 Days of Decrease: A Different Kind of Hunger. A Different Kind of Fast. W Publishing Group. Nashville, TN. p 2.
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