Raise Your Hand!

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Raise your hand if you gave up sweets for Lent?  How about smoking or a certain snack or technology?

Yup.  I'm there with you.  But you know what hit me?  We often think, "I gave up sweets, so yes, I do Lent.  As long as I am faithful to my Lenten sacrifice, I'm covered."

Raise your hand again, if you have ever thought that way.

Actually--stay with me here--that "giving up" that we're doing is good, but it does not cover us for doing Lent.  I was thinking about the Book of Jonah (Chapter 3) and the response of the people of Nineveh.  You will recall Jonah was sent by God to give the people a warning about their impending doom.  

In response to the news from the prophet, because they "believed God," the people fasted and put on  sackcloth.  Even the king of Nineveh "rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes!"

Simply stated, when the people heard the news, they responded appropriately for their time.  In humility before God, they did not presume to know better than God, but fully accepted the warning and embraced the response called for.  It ended well for them.

We can talk about two things here:  Lent, and our own response to the truth that has been spoken to us.

Let's start with Lent.  If we were to go all-in, it probably would entail fully embracing the spirit of these 40 days. Now nobody's asking you to sit in ashes, and only you can know if your sacrifice is truly a sacrifice (it may be!), but do you understand Lent to be a time to meet God in the desert of your ordinary life?

What does that mean?

Go beyond the candy.  Let Lent penetrate your mind and your heart every day.  Hunger for peace and work toward it.  Offer up your pain and suffering for those who are hurting.  Ask God to show you the way you should go.  Let him be your GPS. Internally, be transformed.

Giving up whatever may be very good, but if it is not helping you enter into the fullness of Lent, maybe you trade it for something more meaningful, something more heartfelt.  Maybe we need to dig deeper, and be sure we are not superficially doing Lent.

I've run out of space.  Follow me tomorrow for a discussion on our response to receiving a prophetic word.

Janet Cassidy
janetcassidy.com
#prophetic
#lent

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