Lent is a time to lighten your burden, not increase it.
“What you don’t know can hurt you.”
The saying applies to our spiritual lives as much as to any other area of endeavor. Not that the Christian faith is all about knowledge; it isn’t. We can’t think our way to God. Only by the special revelation that comes to us in Jesus Christ can we discover the fullness of spiritual truth.
At the same time, knowledge plays an important role in this process. The Christian journey begins when we confess our ignorance — our utter inability to figure life out or make it work on our own terms. The more discipline we bring to the practice of our faith, the farther we journey out of darkness and into light, out of illusion and into truth, out of despair and into hope and joy.
Most of us can think of lessons we learned the hard way. How we wish we’d acquired this life wisdom earlier; it could have saved us so much suffering! In a saying attributed to novelist Mark Twain, he expresses amazement that, as a boy, he’d thought his father was so ignorant, but that when Twain had grown up, he marveled at how much wiser his father had become.
Lent challenges us to grow in spiritual wisdom in an intentional way. My Sunday morning messages for the next five weeks will focus on the theme, CHRIST’S ENDING, OUR BEGINNING. In journeying to the cross with Jesus, may we all gain fresh insights into how we can be born anew in him.
My earnest prayer is that this season will help us all grow in the knowledge and love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
With love and blessings,
Evan Howard,
Minister