Have you been keeping a holy Lent? You might ask, “What does that even mean?” Is your focus upon Christ even as the grocery stores fill up with rabbits, candy, chickens and baskets? Next we will likely see Reese’s peanut butter egg advertisements on television!
Christ Church Anglican notes: “The Season of Lent is a time of fasting, penance, prayer, and worship. Lent is all about disruptions. These disruptions, however, have a holy purpose. They are aids to help us prepare our hearts for the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. Lent is not about earning our salvation or proving something to God or others. Instead, Lent is a season of heart renovation. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Saturday. By the time we get to Easter, we are often drawn closer in our relationship with God, our faith encouraged, and the sins we have been wrestling with have been cast off.”
“Lent is a season of heart renovation.” Remember during the pandemic how people worked on their homes? Bought up the wood and other hardware store items and went to work on their dream project? How about renovations in your heart? Have you spent time during Lent asking the LORD to help renovate your heart?
And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
All those references saying the same thing. This is the plan God has for heart renovation! How is the plan working in your personal heart?
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Hebrews 8:10 ESV
He has written His laws into our minds. Are our minds quiet enough to hear those laws? Can you discern His voice among the sounds that bombard your brain? Do you seek out quiet to listen for His voice? Can you read the laws written into your mind or is your mind covered with the graffiti of the world?
He has written His laws on our hearts? What about that? Is you heart like the walls of an old house, needing scrubbing or a new surface so the writing is clarified? Can you imagine your heart with the product called chalkboard paint? “Chalkboard paint is a specialized paint that creates a chalkboard like coating that can be utilized as a writing surface in the same manner as a traditional chalkboard or blackboard.” Wikipedia
Instead of a grocery list imagine the LORD writing His laws and messages to you there!
“I love you with an everlasting love.”
“In all you do and say, do it as unto Me.”
“Seek my face.”
“In returning and rest you are saved; in quietness and trust is your strength.”
“I will be with you always.”
“Love Me with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength.”
“My grace is sufficient for you.”
“In everything give thanks.”
“I have given you everything needed for a life of godliness.”
Can you imagine running into the room each day to see if something new had been written on your walls? You can do that now. Truly you can do that right now by choosing to be with Him and yielding you heart to Him.
So how is your heart renovation going during Lent 2023? It is never too late to begin. God is patient and kind. He is not willing that any should perish.
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9 RSV
I urge you to examine your heart. Ask Him if there are renovations to be done? Pray for His help in getting those underway and completed. Completed for this season. For you see, there is always more we can do to become like Jesus before we enter into our eternal reward. If God had told me everything I needed to change and asked for that all at once I would not have survived the request.
The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.
