Romans 5:8 “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us.” It
is truly amazing to know that God didn’t first put us on a 30-day trial period
to see if we could “handle being a Christian” before he would save us. I am
glad He didn’t say, “I’ll forgive most of your sins except for these few particular ones."
What
is even just as amazing is knowing that God sent his Son, Jesus, to us with the
risk knowing there was a good chance that he would be rejected and not one,
single person would accept his offer of salvation. It was quite a sacrifice. It
is what we focus on during the season of LENT.
LENT comes from
an Anglo-Saxon word meaning “Spring.” What happens in Spring? The Winter snows
melt away, warmer temperatures, and the robins appear. But, most importantly,
the earth comes back to life! Grass becomes green, trees bud and the leaves
return, and flowers grow and bloom.
We,
like Spring, want our spiritual lives to “come back to life” now and after we
die. So, we use the time of Lent to focus on our mortality and our sinfulness
with special attention placed on self-denial, penance and prayer.
Lent is a 40
day period
that starts on Ash Wednesday and ends on the Saturday before Easter Sunday. We
use this time to focus on the condition of our soul and the current depth of
our relationship with God.
This
is “that moment” where quite a few people stop, hesitate, or even turn away.
Why? When confronting sin in our life, we sometimes conclude that we’ve gone
too far or have done too many bad things for God to forgive. Some reflect back
and think that they are hopeless or that they’ve been so wicked and dark that
God would never forgive them.
That is the
encouraging hope of Lent. It reminds us that the Sacrifice of Jesus
covered ALL the sins we ever committed and even those we considered and thought
about, but never carried out. And, yes, even the sins we have yet to commit in
the future. ALL sin. There are no exceptions, whatsoever.
Every
wicked and evil thought and action that anyone could ever dream up to commit
was already factored into the equation before Jesus left Heaven to come to
Earth. All that we have done, are thinking of doing, and will do in sinfulness
is forgivable if we will confess them to God and ask to be forgiven.
So, this is
the question of Lent: Why do you continue living as if your sins
are an exception to God’s forgiveness? Why do you feel that what you have done
is the exception and can’t be forgiven? The sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross
covers everything no matter how petty, minor, major, vile, wicked or evil our
sins may be at this moment.
Find
your victory this Lenten season by refusing Satan’s accusations that you cannot
be forgiven for what you have done and for what you may be continuing to
struggle with right now. Acts 3:19, “Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so
that your sins may be wiped away.”
May
you discover this Lenten season how passionate God is to have you return to Him
through confessing your sins and asking Him to forgive you. He will forgive. He
will lavish His grace upon you and welcome you home!
