Will We Allow God’s Love To Make Us Sacred During Lent?
Good Morning Friends,
Ok we have a forty-day journey ahead of us while we practice being married to God and if we are going to get anything out of it we must be all in the experience. I am not sure I have this perfect but it seems to me that we are on this journey of love to help us to realize the relationship of God with us, has been made for us to seek an understanding of problem of sin, but also to bring us to a decision of whether we will pray in the Kingdom to come on earth as in heaven out of love. Which brings us to today’s question. Will We Allow God’s Love To Make Us Sacred During Lent?
Scripture: See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (NRSV)
saying, “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” Then he said to them all, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?
Luke 9:22-25 (NRSV)
“Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.
Matthew 6:9-13 (NRSV)
“Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ‘I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.’
Acts 7:30-34 (NRSV)
for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:16 (NRSV)
Message: Friends, I imagine we all agree that Jesus gave up something on the cross that is priceless. But we too must give up something if we too are to pick up our own crosses each day to take something profane and through God’s power, not our own, transform it in God’s presence into something holy. Perhaps it is visiting a person in jail or loving on a person who is dying or feeding a homeless person…perhaps it is even closer to home. Now I imagine that many are confused as to how much of this is God’s doing and how much of it is ours. You see I cannot make myself sacred, try though I might. Oh, I might feel the presence of God for a time but my ego and fears muscle into the experience. Salvation is the gift of God won on the cross, but Sanctification is something different. A transformation must happen and be born out of love. You see, up until that point when Christ died for our sins, the cross was never the symbol of a burden, and never considered holy. It was the symbol of death. So, when Jesus is telling his disciples to pick up their crosses it is about learning to love for an outcome where one where on willing to lay down one’s life. Here we begin to see, that our love is to be like God’s love… long-suffering and kind. We are to be part of a relationship that knows no resentment. This is not about boasting and most certainly not narcissistic. This relationship is not rude, nor selfish, nor short-tempered nor focused on imperfections. But like God’s love does not rejoice in injustice either, but joyfully sides with the truth. Love is what makes holiness possible. This is the marriage of the Lamb of God and is a love that can overlook faults and is full of trust, full of hope, full of endurance to sustain a friendship for eternity. And friends, this love that brought the Word into being ups the ante for us to commit to Christ to take up our cross daily, not a burden but out of love giving up your hopes, dreams, possessions, even your very life if need be for the cause of Christ. Only if you willingly take up your cross may you be called His disciple. But the reward is worth the price of a life in Christ. It is a call to the absolute surrender of love. This is the way we are transformed.
And So, people, places and events and things become sacred and holy only because of the active physical presence of God. The burning bush in front of Moses was sacred not because of anything it was, but because God was there. It was only a bush whether Moses took off his shoes or not. What is relevant is that the bush became a bridge between Heaven and Earth when Yahweh descended upon it. And this is what is supposed to happen when we pray. So too the Tabernacle and Ark were holy because it was where God uniquely indwelt with a divine presence. Unfortunately, humans tend to make idols while God is at work making things holy…even us. You see, only God’s active presence transforms the profane into the sacred, and God’s incarnation sets apart the ordinary for the extraordinary in this regard more so than any event in history. It is not so much that we must remove our shoes in places of holiness, but that God himself would wear them for us. Friends, we were made in the image of God after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness and yes, we are to be holy, but we must accept God’s terms.
Pray we are obedient to the Spirit. Pray we choose life. Pray we repent and forgive. Pray we court God as we would a mate. Pray we have the right attitude about suffering. Pray we have a mindset focused on growth of God’s Kingdom. Pray we confess our faults and forgive. Pray we are empowered by grace, atonement and love. Pray we commit ourselves to growth in knowledge, in service, in hope, and in charity. Pray we are even willing to have our selfish ways die to glorify God. Pray for the day when God’s glory will fill the earth with heaven’s love. Pray we realize that it is only God’s love manifested in Jesus and believed in that gives us the opportunity to become holy.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 