Tomorrow (March 5th) marks the beginning of the most holy season in the Christian’s life. Many people will fill churches and mark their foreheads with burned palm branches from the year before observing Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. It was last year around this same time that I stumbled on Journey to the Cross: Readings and Devotions for Lent by Kendal Haug and Will Walker and was amazed at the reflections offered during this 40 day period (its actually 46 but you don’t count the Sundays). The Lenten Season is more than just “giving something up” such as chocolate or technology. Rather, it is a season of preparation for Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday (also known as Easter) whereby the believer repents of sin and contemplates the cross of Jesus by living without (you fill in the blank) in order to be living out their union with Christ. For the Christian, Lent is a time to look at the 40 days of Jesus in the wilderness as He faced the temptation of Satan during a period of fasting and prayer as He prepared to journey to the cross. As Haug and Walker write in their introduction:
“The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are at the very heart of Christianity. The good news of the gospel is that God has acted in history to conquer evil and reconcile sinners to himself through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. For those who have been united with this Jesus – who have submitted to Him as savior and Lord – have been united with Him in the likeness of His death and will one day be united with Him in the likeness of His resurrection (Rom. 6:5). Lent, therefore, is about living out of our union with, and identity in, Christ. Lent is first and foremost about the gospel making its way deeper into our lives.”
My prayer is that you find Journey to the Cross helpful this Lent as it focuses on Jesus, the one and only Savior, who by His death has set us free from the bondage of our own sin (Galatians 5:1).