Lenten Message - Paradise

 

Second Sunday of Lent 2024

This Day You will be with Me in Paradise

 

Today is the second Sunday of the season in the Church calendar called ‘Lent.’  Many Christians observe this time as one in which we focus our thoughts on Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself as our substitutionary atonement for our sins. During Lent, as I said last week, many Christians take opportunity to reflect more particularly on questions such as “Who am I? Why am I here on planet earth? Why did Jesus die for me? How can I grow in my love and devotion to my Savior?”

 

I am focusing our attention this season on the last words of Jesus as He hung dying on that cross. Last week we looked at one of those words – statements, actually – “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?”

 

The last words a person speaks when they know they’re dying give us important insights into their hearts. As we saw last week, some take their last breaths fully blind and deaf to the utter terror that awaits them in only a few moments. Others are fully conscious of the terror that awaits them. And others – others who know Jesus as their Lord and Savior – others take their last breaths with joyous expectation of meeting Him face to face.

 

The last words of Jesus also give us insight – insight into His heart as He awaited His own physical death. We find seven of those last words – statements, actually, in the four gospels. These are not in the order in which the Lord spoke them:

 

1. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” 2. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." 3. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” 4. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!"

5. "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!"  6. "I thirst.” 7. "It is finished."

 

Last week I focused our attention on His cry: “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Today we turn our attention to another of His last words. It was what the Lord said to the so-called, ‘Good Thief”: “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

 

I suspect most of us know the backstory to the Lord’s promise to the thief dying on a cross next to Him. The gospel writers tell us Jesus was crucified with two thieves, one on either side of Him.  Here is the context to the passage in Luke’s gospel: (Luke 23:39-42) “One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today ou shall be with Me in Paradise.”(Luke 23:39-42)

 

So, let’s now begin our examination of this promise to the ‘Good Thief”, and I will parse His promise into four parts: First, I want us to look at the word, “Today.”

 

There is not even a hint of suggestion by the Lord about what is called by ‘soul sleep’ – a somewhat modern teaching by those who are ignorant of the entirety of God's word. That enormously erroneous theology states that the soul cannot exist apart from the body, and therefore when the body dies, the soul remains with the body until the general resurrection. If that be the case, then the word ‘Today’ spoken by Jesus to the thief was a lie.

 

The word, ‘Today’, also means there is no ‘stopover’ in some place called Purgatory, which is yet another horribly erroneous idea that the Christian who dies must first suffer the flames of purgation to remove any remaining sins that the Christian brings with him or her after death and before entry into Paradise – or heaven. If Purgatory is a true Biblical idea, then the word, ‘today,’ that Jesus promised the thief was a lie.

 

No – when the Lord Jesus told that thief, ‘Today,’ He meant ‘today.’ He meant that before the sun set over Calvary’s Mountain, he’d be standing in the very presence of His new Lord because he had repented of his sins and confessed Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords.

 

But – that was then and this is now. This is 2024. What can ‘today’ mean for you and me sitting in this sanctuary? I’ll gladly tell you: This promise of ‘Today” is a great message of hope for those in hospice – AND for those families left behind by a deceased loved one who died in Christ, having repented of their sins and who obediently followed Christ to the best of their human frailties.

 

And surely, the promise of ‘Today” is a great message of hope for ourselves when we lie dying in a hospice bed, because we have Jesus’ promise that when we take our last breath, our very next breath will be in the holy and glorious presence of Jesus.

 

Consider St Stephen for a moment – the first Christian martyr. As he was about to be stoned for his faith in Christ, Luke tells us: (Acs 7:55ff) “But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him . . . and [Stephen] said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”  Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.”

Or please remember what St Paul wrote to the Christians at Corinth. I’ve cited this passage many times, and I encourage you to commit it to memory, as well: (2 Corinthians 5:1,6-8) “For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens . . .   Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.”

The apostle Paul, being taught by the Holy Spirit Himself, believed that Jesus’ promise to the penitent thief applies to every Christian, EVEN to himself – a remarkable and instructive thing, considering what we know of Paul’s murderous persecution of Christians before that Damascus Road experience. And what he learned from the Spirit regarding his sins and God's mercy – the SAME applies to you and me, of which we must be continually reminded: (1 Timothy 1:15-16) “It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life.”

 

Jesus told the Thief, ‘Today.” But now let’s move a bit further into that text. The Lord continued: “Today YOU will be with Me.”

 

That’s our second word for today’s message: Jesus said to the thief, “YOU” will be with Me in Paradise.”

 

Think with me for a moment what we know about this man hanging next to Jesus on his own cross. And in thinking of him, I hope we can understand how this text applies to us in this sanctuary.

 

You will please remember what the ‘good’ thief said to his criminal partner crucified on the other side of Jesus: (Luke 23:40-41) “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And when the Thief turned and said: “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom” (Luke 23:42) – well, we know what the Lord told the penitent thief: “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.”

 

Let’s pause a moment. Of what were YOU guilty in your past? Adultery? Fornication? Abortion? Lies? Blasphemies? Drug abuse? Self-Idolatry? Unwilling to forgive others? The list is nearly endless and each one by itself was more than sufficient to send you to the eternal Lake of Fire.

 

This is important: We need to spend time from time to time remembering who we were before Christ saved us and changed us. Why? Because only when we understand the DEPTH of our sins can we begin to understand the DEPTH of Christ’s love for us. Listen to what Jesus said earlier – and under different circumstances – to the self-righteous Pharisee in Luke 7 about an immoral woman: “Her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”  (Luke 7:47)

 

Until we recognize that we were HOPELESSLY wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked before we came to Christ – then Jesus’

promise to the Thief cannot impact us as greatly as it should – because the thief becomes only a distant character in the Bible and not representative of us.

 

At the beginning of today’s message, we sang once again that wonderful hymn written by John Newton. Some of you might not know his history. He was a degenerate, wretched, evil 18th century slave ship captain. His crews stuffed the holds of those ships with men, women, and children who had hardly enough room to sit amongst the filth and sewage and accompanying illness on his ships. And when some of his ‘cargo’ died, he had them tossed overboard to sharks. Dead slaves were simply the cost of doing business.

But – oh, don’t you love the ‘Buts’ of God's mercy? But when God got hold of the man, he genuinely repented and left his slave trading business. He soon became an Anglican pastor and fierce slavery abolitionist.

 

Newton is best known for his hymn that begins: “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”

 

The thief on that cross could have written those words of Amazing Grace. And so could I. And so could you. But if you don’t think you could, then you still don’t understand the depth of your sins – nor the depth of Christ’s love.

 

I need to start moving this message toward a close. Let’s now look at the next phrase of the Lord to the Thief: “You will be WITH ME.” This is the third point today.

Just like that thief, our future destiny is no longer determined by what we have done. Oh, we MUST understand that. The Christian’s destiny is not determined any longer by what kind of person we’ve been, by the sins we’ve committed, regardless of their evil or how often we committed them. No, no, no. Our destiny is no longer determined by what we’ve done. It is determined by what JESUS has done – AND how you and I respond to what He has done.

“You will be WITH ME.”

Some time ago, I read a poignant tale by American fiction writer, Madeline Le’Engle (d. 2007). The story was about her grandfather. He’d always been a strong, vibrant, robust man – until the dementia demon sank its talons into his memory and slowly reduced the nearly 100-year-old to a shadow of what he once was.

 

As her grandfather lay dying, he gripped her mother’s hand and asked, almost as a child might ask, “Who will go with me when I die?”

 

Those words haunt me whenever I think of them. There he was, a once powerful, ‘in-charge’ guy who had become like a small, frightened child. I know nothing of his position with Christ. I do not know if he ever humbled himself before the cross of Jesus. But if he had, Oh! What comfort someone could have given the frightened child inside the man.

 

Of course, men and women caught in the grip of dementia are not the only ones who lie on deathbeds, fearful that no one will go with them when they die. I know many healthy people who fear such a thing. And they have good reason to fear because they live lives without so much as a passing thought about eternity – nor do they care a smidgen that obedient faith in Jesus Christ is God's absolute and unyielding requirement for eternal life.

Jesus told the thief, “You will be with Me.” And those are the SAME words the Lord of Creation speaks to EVERY man and woman who has sought Christ’s forgiveness. “You WILL BE with ME.” It is for the Christian as David wrote: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me.”

 

Who will go with me when I die? The Christian can answer without a moment’s hesitation: Jesus will go with me, every step of my journey.

Back to the text and our fourth point: Jesus said, “You will be with Me.” And where would that be? He tells us: In Paradise.

 

Some believe Paradise is heaven itself. Others believe it is NOT exactly heaven, but it is nonetheless a place of unimaginable joy, peace, and beauty. It sounds as if Heaven and Paradise are synonymous. And they might be. But it is really beyond my purpose today to discuss the varying opinions as to the location of Paradise because, frankly, IT DOES NOT MATTER where Paradise is located. What DOES matter is that Jesus is there.

 

The Paradise promised to the Thief – AND to all who follow the thief in repentance and confession of Christ’s Lordship – that Paradise is where we will see Jesus face to face – no longer with the eyes of faith, but with our physical eyes. We will hear His voice with our physical ears, and we will feel His embrace with our physical skin.

 

Listen to this promise from the prophet Isaiah, “He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” (Isaiah 25:8-9)

 

Who cares where Paradise is located? I don’t care because wherever it is, Jesus is there. No wonder St Paul told his readers in Thessalonica – AND his readers in Ashwood meadows – (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) “For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

 

“Comfort one another.”

 

The reason you and I who know Christ Jesus as our Savior and Lord –

 

And Don’t minimize the ‘Lord’ part –

 

Those who know Jesus as Savior and Lord have every good and perfect reason to comfort each other because, as we saw today in His promise to the dying penitent thief hanging next to Him – when we take our last breath – whether later today or sometime in the future – we have Christ’s unchangeable promise that on THAT day we WILL be with Him in Paradise.

 

With Him. And so shall we be forever with the Lord.

 

THAT is why we can comfort each other with those words of promise from the very lips of our Savior Jesus. Amen and amen.

 

 

 

Lenten Message: Forsaken

 

Why Have You Forsaken Me?

 

Today is the first Sunday of the season in the Church calendar called ‘Lent.’ Christians observe this time as one in which we focus our thoughts on Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself as our substitutionary atonement for our sins.

During Lent, as I said last week, many Christians take opportunity to reflect more particularly on questions such as “Who am I? Why am I here on planet earth? Why did Jesus die for me? How can I grow in my love and devotion to my Savior?”

 

As we move into the season of Lent which will end on March 31 with Resurrection Sunday, I thought it a good idea to focus our attention during the next few weeks on the last words Jesus uttered on the cross, just hours before His death.

 

The ‘Last Words’ of people who die is a subject of interest to many people who actually document those words of the dying. Some – believe it or not – some people are actually flippant as they near the last breath. For example, it’s reported that comedian W.C. Fields, when asked why he was reading the Bible on his deathbed, responded: “I’m looking for loopholes.”

 

Margaret Sanger, infamous eugenicist and racist, who popularized the murder of multiple millions of babies through Planned Parenthood died saying: “A party! Let’s have a party.”

 

Then there were those atheists who were not at all flippant about their impending eternal destiny. They were instead terrorized by what they sensed was about to happen to them.

 

But then there are those who saw a different destiny from their deathbeds. For example, St. Teresa of Ávila’s last words were these: “O my Lord and my Spouse, the hour that I have longed for has come. It is time for us to meet one another.”

 

Dwight L. Moody, founder of the Moody Bible Institute, said on his deathbed: “Can this be death? Why it is better than living! Earth is receding, heaven is opening. This is my coronation day.”

 

The last words a person speaks when they know they’re dying give us important insights into their hearts. Some take their last breaths fully blind and deaf to the undiluted terror that awaits them only moments later. Others are fully conscious of the terror that awaits them. And others – others who know Jesus as their Lord and Savior – others take their last breaths with joyous expectation of meeting Him face to face.

 

The last words of Jesus also give us insight – insight into His heart as He awaited His own physical death. I mention them only briefly now, and they are NOT in order of when He said them. Here are the seven statements:

 

1. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

2. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." 

3. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

4. "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!"

5. "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!"

6. "I thirst.”

7. "It is finished."

 

So, let’s begin our examination of his Seven Last Statements as He hung dying on that cross. Todays’ message centers on one of His statements. I take that text from Mark’s gospel: (Mark 15:33-34) “When the sixth hour came, darkness fell over the whole land until the ninth hour. At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

 

Did you ever wonder what His enemies thought when Jesus cried out to God, “Why have You forsaken Me?” I imagine they thought: “Good! He’s just getting his comeuppance. He was a vicious blasphemer, and now He will spend eternity in condemnation.”

 

They didn’t know it at the time, but they were fulfilling what proved to be a prophecy written a few decades earlier, before Jesus was even born. It’s found in the intertestamental book of Wisdom: (Wisdom 2:12-20) Let us lie in wait for the righteous one, because he is annoying to us; He opposes our actions, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the Lord . . . Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him in the end. For if the righteous one is the son of God, God will help him and deliver him from the hand of his foes. With violence and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”

Of course, it was not only Christ’s first century critics who pointed to His words on the cross – “Why have You forsaken Me” to try to prove He was a blasphemer. Critics for two millennia have tried to do likewise.

 

So, His enemies were thrilled. But what of His friends? What did they think when he cried out those words? Maybe they were wrapped in a mass of confusion, wondering why the Father was letting such agonizing terror ravage His Son. Maybe they thought they had been wrong about Him. Isn’t that what the two disciples on the road to Emmaus thought? When Jesus approached them – they didn’t at first know it was the Lord – and He asked what they’d been talking about, they said to Him: (Luke 24:21) "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel.”

 

“My God, My God, why have your forsaken Me?”

I also wonder how many in the crowd – even among the Sanhedrin – how many recognized Jesus was quoting from the first verse of Psalm 22. Were there not any who recognized that Jesus was pointing them to that Messianic Psalm which spoke of a suffering Messiah?

 

Here is only part of that Psalm: (Psalm 22:1,7,14-18) “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? . . All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the head, saying, “Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him; Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.” . . . I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws . . . .For dogs have surrounded me; A band of evildoers has encompassed me; They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots . . ..”

 

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Notice the repetition of “My God,” repeated for the same reason you and I repeat things in our prayers – for emphasis.

 

It’s hard – I’ll say it is IMPOSSIBLE – for us to conceive the agony we’d experience to know God had forsaken us. How could we even minimally understand the heart-rending anguish we’d experience to hear our Creator say those horrifyingly dreadful words which He WILL say to many on that day: (Matthew 25:41) ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; A place where there will be ETERNAL weeping and gnashing of teeth (See for example, Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50; 24:51)

That sense of unimaginable rejection by the Father is exactly what Jesus experienced on that cross – experienced not because of His own sins, but because of your sins. And my sins.

 

As we’ve seen many times as we’ve studied the Scriptures together, Jesus received the FULL, and complete wrath of God when He BECAME our sin (see 2 Corinthians 5:20). When the Father – out of His overabundant love for you AND His full justice against sin – the Father made his sinless son BECOME our sin. And in that moment God turned His back on His beloved Son who had now become SIN. At that moment, for the first time in ETERNITY, the Son lost total fellowship His Father.

I still remember how it felt to be rejected by my father. I was four when he left. Some of you know this story. I was sitting on a black couch in our one-bedroom apartment when Mom told me that daddy wasn’t coming home anymore. I got up and went to his closet to find his wallet. I wanted to hide it and force him to stay.

 

My sister and I rarely saw him during our childhood years. But when I was 18, I asked Mom to arrange a meeting with him at his parents’ apartment. They lived only a few blocks away.

 

When I saw him for the first time in more than a decade and a half, I asked him why he left me and Andrea. And without even a moment’s hesitation, he said, “Because I wanted to.”

 

More than half a century later, I still remember it.

I know what it’s like to be rejected by a parent. And some of you also know the feeling of being rejected by a parent, or in some cases, by a spouse, or a child.

 

But what must it have been like for the Son of God to be rejected by His Father with whom He had lived in eternity past in such an inconceivably  intimate relationship. But – and here it is again – because the father rejected the Jesus, He will never reject those who call Jesus their Savior, Lord, King, and sacrificial atonement.

 

Think of what that means for us who were – as Scripture defines us – ‘children of wrath’ before Jesus saved us. Think what it means for us who sometimes can’t often go more than 15 minutes without committing a sin in thought, or in word, or in action. Think what it means that because of Jesus, God has wiped away forever all our sins for which we have repented and from which we have turned.

 

Like the Etch-A-Sketch and Magic Slate illustration I used a few weeks ago to demonstrate the glorious truth that God chooses to forget everything we’ve ever done.

 

Yes, we have heard that story a thousand times, and if we live long enough, you’ll hear it another thousand times from me – why, because we need to keep hearing it again and again because we forget that truth again and again.

 

PLEASE! Don’t let anyone ever seduce you into believing that after you die, you still have to pay some penalty for your sins. That is a demonic lie that spits in the bloody face of Jesus.

 

What I have difficulty understanding is WHY so many there in the dining room, and so many of our families and friends reject God's message of hope and eternal forgiveness.

 

I have a friend a few years older than I. He has a bad heart and has had several cardiac procedures to correct his dysrhythmias. Of course, his obvious mortality worries him – but apparently not that much.

 

I’ve tried a few times in the last month or so to talk to him about eternal things, but he’s made it clear he doesn’t want to hear about it. I have another friend, one I’ve known from childhood, who’s already had prostate cancer, and a recent heart attack. He also is uninterested in talking about death and eternity.

 

Many years ago, as a home Bible study which Nancy and I attended wound to a close for the evening, a young mother ran out to her car for a package. She left her two-year-old daughter with us in the living room. But when Berea saw Mommy leave, her face froze with panic. She raced as quickly as her little legs could carry her and stretched in vain for the doorknob. Her screams brimmed with terror, as if Mommy would never to return from the other side of the door.

One of the women lifted Berea into her arms and tried to calm her. But it was no use. The toddler wanted no one but Mommy. And mommy was gone.

When Berea’s mother returned a few moments later, she lifted her into her arms, stroked her back and spoke softly into her ear. Almost immediately, the baby quieted down. All was well. Mommy had returned.

 

But what will it be like for my two friends when they too-late realize they are FOREVER on the other side of the door? When they fully comprehend the truth of which Job spoke: (Job 27:8 - “For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God requires his life?”

 

What will it be like for my friends and for those in the dining room when THEY say – knowing they are without hope for a second chance: “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”

 

Well, it’s time to bring this message to a close. And to do that, I’d like to ask each of us – myself included – “What will WE do today with God's Son?” Indeed, what will we do EVERY day with God's Son?

 

It’s not enough to simply say ‘Jesus is my Lord.’ It’s not enough to go down to an altar once and confess our sins. We have to daily live the life of Christ. Here is Luke 9:23-24 in which Jesus said to everyone following Him: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”

 

Listen! We’d better be careful that we do not end up at the Judgment like those Jesus warned us about in Luke 13:24-28 “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; Depart from Me, all you evildoers.’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth . . ..”

 

No, it’s not enough to go down to an altar one time in your life. We had better pay attention to the biblical message of ongoing holiness and righteousness and faithfulness and truth and repentance. We’d better pay attention to what the Holy Spirit tells us through the words of Scripture.

 

How ought we to live in light of what Jesus has done for us? That’s easy: Grateful. Obedient. Faithful. Honest. Humble. Kind. Gentle. And quick to repent when the Holy Spirit tells us we have done or said or thought the wrong thing.

 

We are dust, and to dust we will each return. But our souls will live forever – either with Christ or on the wrong side of the door, forever separated from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Jesus spoke those words so you and I will never have to say them. You are dust. I am dust. That is why we each must every day repent and believe the gospel.

Lenten Observance

“If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” . . . . These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” (Colossians 2:20-21, 23)

 

I’ve decided to do something different this year for Lent. Instead of giving up something – which has (for me) never proven to be of much spiritual value – I’m going to do something different.

 

During the 40 days of Lent, I’m going to add a chapter from the Psalms to my regular morning and evening Bible reading. I’m doing that because, as I said, giving something up for Lent has never proved to draw me closer to my Lord. But I do not doubt for a moment that reading an extra chapter of His holy word each day will be a useless exercise.

And what about you? I’m curious – if you observe the season of Lent (and, by the way, I think it’s a WONDERFUL way to journey toward Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday –I’m not sure why more churches don’t observe Lent) – so what is your plan as part of your Lenten observance? Others might be interested to know. It will perhaps give them ideas for themselves.