Lent – Our Spiritual Winter
The season of Lent begins today, Wednesday, March 9th. Lent is a spiritual season that is a spiritual winter of sorts. Symbolized with ashes and being reminded of our need for repentance Lent calls us to die to the desires of the flesh in order to prepare for the new life we have in Christ as is represented by Passover and the Resurrection. It is a time for those of us who may be struggling emotionally, maritally, and spiritually to recalibrate. It is a time to reflect on who we are and who Christ is calling us to be. It is a time to be sobered by the wickedness that still resides deep inside of us, and to be overwhelmed by the grace of God that caused Him to save us anyway. It is a time to re-certify our commitment to allowing God to finish the work, eradicate the wickedness within, and reconcile us to Himself.
Many people already struggle at this time of year emotionally that often lead them to make life altering and destructive decisions in order to help themselves feel better. Statistics show that divorce lawyers are sought more often in January and February than at any other time of year. It may be the lack of sunshine, as it tends to be with my lovely wife Kristi, or it could be that we are unprepared to fight against the wickedness within. Whatever the reason for our unhappiness the reality is that our faith, in order to grow, must experience the perseverance of making it through Spiritual Winters.
I pray that you join me in doing so intentionally until Easter by picking up a new habit that helps you reflect on Christ or getting rid of an old one that is ultimately destructive to your mind, body or soul.
God Is Not A White Man
Gungor is new to the music scene and recently released a video on YouTube portraying images related to their song “God is not a white man.” I love the song, and the video is lots of fun too. It’s kind of funny that in my head I always think of God as an old, white man.
When I went to YouTube to see the comments I was immediately struck by a comment left by neoctopusos.
“what a stupid video; totally irrealistic. If God loves terrorists, i wonder whether god loves also the terrorists victims.”
This is the great thing about our God. That He loves us in spite of us. In reality, we were or are all terrorists against God. God passionately pursues His lost kids regardless of who they are, or what they have done. God’s pursuit is not based upon our value or worth. We call this Grace. Instead it is the very fact that we are pursued by God that makes us valuable and worthy. God knows that when He catches us He will change us, but unless we are caught we are destined to be His enemy.
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WybvhRu9KU’]
The song is about the character of God, and not the wickedness of mankind. Therefore, we should not confuse God’s passionate pursuit of us, compelled by His love for us, with a tolerance of our wickedness. One of the outcomes of being captured by God and through the concentration of our affections toward Him is that we are made new. Therefore, how we might have identified ourselves today is destined to change tomorrow until time is undone.
But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? Romans 5:10
So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away – look, what is new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17
Exodus – 2000 years later
Thanks to Rob Bell’s book, God wants to save Christians, and the yet to be published book from the folks at the other Mars Hill, Redemption, as I read through the Bible this year I am more sensitive than ever to the prevailing theme of Exodus throughout scripture.
After God sends Moses to lead his family out of slavery in Egypt – granted it’s over a million family members, but they are family none the less – the family becomes a nation with an organized form of government, laws, and religion in a relatively short amount of time. After this critical moment in God’s interaction with us God continually references the Exodus events as his identification and as proof that He cares.
When God has had enough of the rebellion and a turning point is necessary for these people He uses Exodus language to announce through His prophets how He will discipline and how He will redeem.
I just finished Hosea, a prophet who lived 2000 years after the Exodus who announces the future destruction of the Northern Kingdom, Israel,
“5 They will return to Egypt
Assyria will rule over them
because they refuse to repent!” (Hosea11:5, NET)
The Northern Kingdom will again be taken into slavery because of their rebellion. It seems a cruel punishment. God even declares that pregnant women will have their wombs cut open and their babies heads will be dashed against the rocks. Wow! Pretty violent, and if we remove this discipline from the context of 2000 years of patience shown to the Israelites by God I think we might have an opinion of God as merciless. However, He’s given them 2000 years to follow Him. He rescued them from slavery in order to follow Him. Instead the people of the Northern Kingdom and especially their kings disobeyed the law and worshiped other gods. I think 2000 years is about 1999 years longer than I would have given them.
What about you? Is God patient, merciful, gracious, kind, and just? Or is God some kind of malicious, jealous, and enraged ogre?