Are you weary from doing too much during Lent? Or did it rush by too fast, leaving you wishing you had done more? Somehow, I seem to fit into both categories. Now that Holy Week is here, I'm trying to remind myself of what Lent is really all about. These words from the Lord strike me: "They have turned to me their back and not their face; and though I have taught them persistently they have not listened to receive instruction" (Jeremiah 32:33). I don't want to be like that, and Deuteronomy describes doing the opposite: "return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice... with all your heart and with all your soul" (Dt 30:2). In light of these passages, one could say that Lent is about turning ourselves to face the Lord so we can hear, and turning our hearts to the Lord so we can obey. Lent is not only about doing a lot of religious activities or spending a lot of time helping the needy, because something internal needs to happen.
With that in mind, I can say that there is still time for that to begin happening before Thursday. I can simply tell the Lord where I am at. I can talk about what's going on. I can acknowledge any parts of my heart that are far from the Lord. I can start turning those parts of my heart to the Lord. I can start living that out, ready for Him to help me. Lent is not about saving myself, but about turning myself to the Lord so he can save me through His death and resurrection. Fortunately, there are a lot of things happening at my church this week to help me in that process. How about you?
