Psalm 51; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
Today is the day that we begin a period of reflection. It is a journey of 40 days leading to Easter.
We know the outcome, we know there will be rejoicing in a risen Lord, but that does not mean that we shouldn’t take time to reflect on who we are, where we have come from and where we are going.
All of us our sinners, we all do things that hurt and offend God our Father. Sometimes we mean to, sometimes we don’t, but this is a time that we can reflect and turn again to the God who saves, to put our hand in His and to determine to follow Him more closely.
The Psalm we have read today is a beautiful prayer. Only God can forgive and here we see David coming to God, laying his sins bear and asking that God blots them out. We may offend people here on earth, we may lie to them, cheat time, hurt them, even kill, but in all the bad stuff we do, we sin most against God; we fail to keep His commandments, we fail to love one another.
God creates us, He formed us in the womb, He plans for us to have a good life, a life with Him at the centre; yet we fail. We put our ideas, our desires, above His.
The only way we can be right with God is to come to Him with a repentant heart. However dirty, however messy our lives are, through Jesus’ death on the cross we can be made clean. When we truly repent, from our hearts, God forgives, He removes our sins as far as the east is from the west; it’s as if we never sinned.
As forgiven people God gives us new hearts – He takes away the heart of stone that has become bitter over the years and replaces it with a heart of flesh; a heart that has compassion for those He has compassion for; a heart that forgives those who hurt us; a heart that longs to see peace and justice in this world where violence is so often the “go to” answer.
He will give us all we need to sustain us; He gives us the Holy Spirit to help and to guide us.
As we have seen in Matthew we are to do the things God asks us to do quietly – not shouting from the rooftops. If we get involved in ministry to “be seen by others”, if we give to the church “so others can see how much we give” then it means nothing. Our reward from Father God comes when He sees what we do in the secret places, the places where no-one sees, the places where no-one can raise us up and set us as an example to others.
We only need to look at Jesus and follow His example for the way we should live our lives today.
There are no right or wrong ways to observe Lent. Some may choose to take time to fast and pray. I was talking to someone earlier in the week who said how hard it must be for the Muslim’s to fast during this hot weather. God doesn’t ask us to put our lives in danger to draw close to Him! Fasting can take many different forms – you can fast from sugar – that’s radical in this country I know; you can fast from particular foods or from particular activities. The whole point of fasting is setting things aside and allowing our focus to be more fully on Jesus. To spend more time in prayer, not just talking to God but actively listening to what He is saying; to spend more time reading and listening to our Bibles.
We can do all of these things quietly, not boasting, perhaps the only person knowing what you are fasting from is yourself; perhaps your family know too to make it easier at home. I have a friend who has told me that the first his wife knows that he is fasting is when she offers him tea and he refuses.
Everything we do as Christian’s should be pointing others to Jesus, not shining a light on our own actions. Our example and our words should lead others to wanting to know more of Jesus and to making a commitment to follow Him. It is not our place to say “this person is too bad for God to be interested”; God loves us all, equally, whatever we have done and there is always a way back to Him through repentance because Jesus paid the price on the cross.
During Lent, as we listen to what God is saying, we have an opportunity to reflect on how we are living our lives, are we walking in line with His will, is He asking us to change the people we spend time with, the activities we undertake, is He asking us to spend more time with the poor, the oppressed, those who are sick, those in prison. Christian’s will not obtain perfection until Jesus returns, there is always room for improvement, what is it the Lord is asking of you during this period?
Create in me, in us, a new heart O Lord and renew a steadfast spirit within us. Do not case us from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from us. Restore to us the joy of your salvation and grant us a will spirit, to sustain us. Then we will teach transgressors your ways so that sinners will turn back to you.