The second positive thought regarding Lent is that it is a time to realise we cannot gain God’s favour by doing good things but that there is an entryway to inheriting all that God has given us?
Paul tells us, “if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom. 10:9). It sounds simple. So simple even a child could do it. But here’s the dilemma: If we think we need to be good in order to receive God’s promises, we can never measure up.
The entryway into relationship with God can never be based on me qualifying myself because I’m a good person. Yes, I may do good things, but there’s also a lot of sin and brokenness in my life.
From scripture, we know that each of us is a mixture of good and evil, sin and righteousness, cruelty and blessing. If we doubt any of this, we need only to look at the thoughts of our hearts, those things we never tell anyone. We find sin and brokenness not only out in the world but deep inside ourselves.
If we try to gain God’s favour by doing good actions, we move backward. During Lent, if we try to give up something and think we can earn something from God in return, we are, in effect, trying to earn some sort of divine merit badge.
The bottom line is that we need God to take the initiative and bring us what we don’t deserve. God is not interested in you giving up something this Lent to earn more points with him. What matters to him is the fact that he loves you, cares for you deeply, and wants to bring you into his presence.
This is the second lesson of Lent: to understand that we can never earn our inheritance based on our goodness it is a gift of grace.
May Your grace abound in my life’s , in my home and even in my heart. I ask for Your grace so that I will live a life that is worth looking at a godly life that is preaching and bringing glory to Your Name. I know that in my weakness through Your grace Your strength is shown. I ask this in the Name of Jesus. Amen
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