{"id":335,"date":"2017-03-01T03:52:43","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T03:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theoikonomist.com\/?p=335"},"modified":"2017-03-01T03:58:48","modified_gmt":"2017-03-01T03:58:48","slug":"lenten-devotional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theoikonomist.com\/?p=335","title":{"rendered":"Lenten Devotional"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joel 2:12-13 (ESV)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYet even now,\u201d declares the<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>Lord<\/em>,<\/em>
\n\u201creturn to me with all your heart,
\nwith fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
\nand\u00a0rend your hearts and not\u00a0your garments.\u201d
\nReturn to the\u00a0Lord\u00a0your God,
\nfor he is gracious and merciful,
\nslow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
\nand he relents over disaster.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Lent is a forty-day season of reflection and preparation for the death of Jesus. It is a time of repentance and meditation, of considering Christ’s suffering and rethinking how we are called to take up our own crosses. Some of us give up things like chocolate or television during this season as a sort of fasting. As a result, we are left to rethink how we live and how we want to live.<\/p>\n

Then is Lent a New Year’s resolution for Christians? Not necessarily. Yes, we sacrifice and give up certain pleasures and bad habits, not because of self-improvement or righteous piety, but to reorient our lives towards the cross.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Lent is not simply about mirroring Jesus’ fasting in the desert for forty-days and the temptations he had by Satan. Lent is a season where we hear, respond, and arrange our lives to Jesus’ call and the cross. It is a season of giving over our life to death. The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it best, \u201cWhen Christ calls a man, He bids him to come and die\u201d.<\/p>\n

As we embark on this journey towards Good Friday and the cross, we begin (once more) to surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death. However, the cross is not the end to our otherwise happy life, but what Bonhoeffer would say “meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ”.<\/p>\n

We are to confront our own guilt, shame, fears, anger, sadness, and sinfulness during Lent, and though we will experience the joy and happiness of Easter and resurrection, we first must walk the long trek to meet Jesus on the cross and encounter the pain and sorrow of Good Friday.<\/p>\n

Let us be reminded that we do not have to fear our own shortcomings:<\/p>\n

“The\u00a0Lord\u00a0is my shepherd,\u00a0I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me\u00a0along the right paths for his name\u2019s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil,\u00a0for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Psalm 23:1-4 (NIV)<\/strong><\/p>\n

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