Dust and Ashes

For you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19)

The season of Lent is a time when many Christians reflect on the faithfulness of their walk with Christ. It’s a time when we focus on His life, His death, and His resurrection. In churches that celebrate Lent, congregants receive ashes on their forehead, usually in the sign of a cross. The person placing the ashes says something like this: “You are dust, and to dust you will return. Repent and believe the gospel.” 

“Dust.” That's an important reality too many Christians overlook. To some, especially to those who think more of themselves than they ought, the idea that we are mere dust is a slap across the face. 

Dust? Me? I don’t think so. 

Yet 100 years from today, the multi-billionaire living in a mansion, and the homeless person living under a bridge will each be nothing more than dust or ashes. 

And because our bodies will return to dust, Jesus’ words in Matthew 4:17 toll with an ominous urgency: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Why? Although our body will decay to dust, our souls will not. They are eternal. They will live forever – either with the Lord Jesus in heaven, or with Satan in hell. 

Forever. 

That is why Jesus warned repeatedly throughout His ministry about repentance and obedience to the gospel. That is why His apostles did the same. And that is why all true Christians today proclaim the same message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  

What does repentance look like? It looks like stopping what God says is wrong – and determining to not do it again. And, by the way, what God says is wrong is not determined by the culture, or by educators, or by the courts, or even by some church leaders. Their opinions are not only irrelevant when they contradict God’s truth, they are inescapably poisonous to everyone who follows their guidance instead of God’s holy Word. 

Lent lasts only 40 days – from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday. But our reflection on Christ’s life, death, resurrection – and our obedience to His commandments must extend far beyond Easter. 

Our eternal destiny is inextricably tied to what we do with Jesus every day of our lives until we breathe our last. 

Please, make the right choice.  Repent, and obey the gospel.