February 2012

What is Lent?

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, which is the time in the year when Christians remember the forty days when God's Son, Jesus, went off into the wilderness to spend time alone with his Father God. The date of Ash Wednesday is worked out by counting back 40 weekdays from Easter Saturday. Lent is one of two seasons in the year (the other is Advent) when Christians think especially about how their lives match up to the way God wants them to live. It is a bit like having a spiritual medical.

The season of Lent can be seen as a pilgrimage, with the destination a better understanding of the Easter message. Arthur Paul Boers says 'Pilgrimage is faith-motivated travel to experience God in ways that can shape and change us; it focuses explicitly on growth in discipleship.'

So, ask yourself as the patient, as you examine yourself in your spiritual medical: In which ways could you better use the season of Lent for discipleship growth? Then ask yourself as you begin to examine each part of the body -

• HEAD – you may be well in the head but how are your thoughts? Are there thoughts you might want to say sorry to God about?
• EYES – how is your seeing? Do you look at people judgmentally, or as objects of desire, rather than as children made in God's image?
• EARS – how is your hearing? Are you deaf to the needs of others around you? How is your listening?
• MOUTH – in the letter of James in the Bible we are warned that, though the tongue is small, it can do a lot of harm. How is your speaking? Paul says in the letter to the Ephesians, 'Let nothing unwholesome come out of your mouth but only what is good for building others up.' Do you need to say sorry for something you have said.
• HEART – how is your heart? Are you loving and kind to those around you? Do you need to have a look at your heart over Lent?
• HANDS – can get you into all sorts of trouble. You have a choice as to how to use your hands. Have you used your hands, as you should?
• FEET – Your feet take you where you want to go. Have you been following the crowd or going in the right way?

Have you passed the medical? Over the rest of Lent, think about these parts of our bodies and see whether they are as healthy on the inside as they look on the outside.

Blessings,

Bill