Pastor’s Corner… “Season Of Lent”

Two things we forget at our peril:  Who we are and Whose we are.  Like you, I know people whose lives are falling apart because they lost a sense of who they were and whose they were.  

Substances have crowded out their substance.  Pleasure-seeking has deprived them of pleasure.  Family feuds have left them with no one to call their own.  Both self-righteousness and unrighteousness are lonely bedfellows.

 

The possibilities for shooting off our own feet are endless.  I even have a friend who shot a BB into his toe one night just because he thought it made sense at the time!  (Try watching someone you love open a jackknife and attempting to dig out a BB, and tell me how smart we modern people have become). 

 

 

 

But what about those less noticeable lapses, like adding some padding to the expense account or telling a story that bends the truth or just being so worn out with stress that the body gets more food and less exercise than what is wise. 

 

Sure, it's easy to point our fingers at people who have fallen in dramatic ways, but honestly, don't I share the same human nature as the former 4.0 graduate whose only home is now a homeless shelter? 

 

 

 

I may never have the kind of money that allows me to make a spectacular flame-out of my life as the rich and famous, but a pitiful flame-out is still pitiful.  Human nature is human nature  -- it is to forget that we belong to God and believe we ought to be in charge of our own world.

 

The solution to the dilemma of forgetting who and whose we are is repentance and forgiveness.  Our human nature hasn't changed, but neither has God's desire to forgive us and offer us second chances. 

 

Unfortunately, our nature doesn't suddenly transform itself - it takes time, discipline and practice.  That's why we have Bible studies, committees, Sunday School, small groups and regular public worship -all paths to help us change over time.  These things aren't meant to "fix" us, but for us to allow God to change us through them.

 

My family and I (most of the credit goes to Shan) have decided to involve ourselves in this process of allowing God to change us with a simple Bible reading plan.  Rather than trying to read big chunks at a time, we've broken it down to manageable sizes suitable for our young children. 

 

I encourage you to follow us in this plan, to come up with your own plan or to use one of our resources, such as the Upper Room, to build time in your days to remember who you are and whose you are (credit for the outline goes to Shan).

 

The idea is simple:  Read the passage, talk about it and pray.  During the season of Lent, we'll be using the "I Am" statements in the Gospel of John, so this outline will help us all get in the swing together.

 

 

    Your fellow servant in Christ Jesus,
                                    Brian Sixbey