Lent - Part 3
Lent starts today. Consider observing Lent with your family or City Group. At its heart, Lent turns our gaze on Jesus in imitation of his sacrifice, in response to his grace, and in glory of his Cross. We strongly encourage not just “giving something up for Lent,” but saturating in prayer and scripture. Consider using this devotional.by Ezra Boggs“Imagine I take a blind test in which my task is to identify the genuine follower of Jesus Christ. My choices are an unregenerate individual and you. I’m given two reports detailing conversations, Internet activity, manner of dress, iPod playlists, television habits, leisure time, financial transactions, thoughts, passions, and dreams. The question is: Would I be able to tell you apart? Would I discern a difference between you and your unconverted neighbor, coworker classmate, or friend? Have the lines between Christian and worldly conduct in your life become so indistinguishable that there really is no difference at all?”We MUST stop confessing over the Bride of Christ that we will ‘confirm stereotypes’, which is nothing more than preemptive blame shifting, and instead start raising the standard to mirror the Apostle Paul’s commitment to the culture God had called him to influence.“Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” For 40 days, be an example of what a sacrificial life as unto Christ looks like.Stop the posturing, the entitlement, and excuses…and get serious enough to ask God to transform your heart into the Ambassador of Christ those around you need to impact their lives…to lead them…to ‘imitate’ as you ‘imitate Christ.’ Because what is the human condition of those we’ll encounter around us in these next 40 days? It is an ‘either / or’ scenario - ‘Those perishing and those being saved’The advantage for the child of God is that we know what the unbeliever’s blindness is like; we have seen through unbelieving eyes. “And such were some of you’ the Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthians.The disadvantage for the unbeliever is they have not looked at reality through eyes opened by the Holy Spirit and truly know what it is to rightly function within the reality you find yourself in; the Christian has both perspectives undergirding their communication.After all, Christianity is unique in that it gives you a meaning in life that suffering cannot take away and an identity in Christ that is received and not achieved! “If I want Jesus’ outcome, I must do what Jesus did, say what He said, in the manner he did it.”May you have all the time required to read more Scripture over a span of 40 days than you ever had throughout the entire linear timeline of your entire Christian walk.May you take time with residents in a nearby nursing home…playing board games….reading books together…sharing significance with a lonely human being in the final season of life.May you envision the eyes of your grandchildren as they hear their parents reading a prayer journal kept by their grandfather decades prior.May you sacrifice your own ego and be the ‘imitator’ of Christ the dying world around you desperately needs to see.May these 40 days be a transition into a lifelong posture of sacrificing your heart, life, and time for others like Jesus did, and continues to do, for you.May we all realize that Christianity without sacrifice is not Christianity.Read Part 1 and 2.