Lent: a time of rememberance

The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones & illustrated by Jago

In my heart, I am bursting with excitement that the season of Lent is here. Wednesday marks the start of the mourning season. It is a time of somber reflection on sin and a practice in sacrificing in order to reflect the Lord's life. Sound depressing? Hardly! It's only sad when you stop with sin. It's only bitter if you don't know the end. It won't be sensical unless you know, in your heart, that this was God's perfect will:

To rescue His beloved children by choosing to crush His Only Son in our place, that we might be reconciled to God.

It was God who killed Jesus. It was He who poured all His wrath onto His only Son. Now, we can stand, in Christ, before the throne of Adonai and say "I love You!"

Isaiah 53:1-11:

¹Who has believed our message?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
²For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
And like a root out of parched ground;
He has no stately form or majesty
That we should look upon Him,
Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
³He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
⁴Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
⁵But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
⁶All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
⁷He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
⁸By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
⁹His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
¹⁰But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
¹¹As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
¹²Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors. (NASB)

So, starting Wednesday, I will daily remember the person and life of Jesus Christ. I will choose to deny myself for 40 days in order to remember Christ. I join in Lent, not because I have to, but because I want to. Not because I think it will make me holy; I can't be any holier than I already am, not that I am sinless and ONLY BECAUSE I am found in my perfect Savior of Jesus Christ. I join in Lent because I want to daily remember who Jesus was, is and what he will be:

Philippians 2:6-11...although [Christ] existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. ⁸Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NASB)

Do you know Jesus? Do you call him LORD? If you do, thank Him right now for adopting you as His child.

If you don't know Jesus, what are you waiting for? Get to know Him, don't write him off before He's even said "Hello." The record of His life and deeds and desires is in His word. It's called the gospel and it means "Good News" It's the best news you could ever hear! Meet Jesus for a cup of coffee and a convo, start in the written record of John or Matthew.

He's waiting to reveal Himself to you and to call you his beloved if you believe on Him for salvation.

Love, Lauren ♥