Lenten Devotional – Day 33

Q. 87. What is repentance unto life?

A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.

“Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

“Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement; he is a rebel who must lay down his arms . . . This process of surrender—this movement full speed astern—is what Christians call repentance. Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death. - C. S. Lewis

  Repentance demands change — a change of heart and way of life. God's word is life-giving and it saves us from destruction — the destruction of soul as well as body. Jesus' anger is directed toward sin and everything which hinders us from doing the will of God and receiving his blessing. In love he calls us to walk in his way of truth and freedom, grace and mercy, justice and holiness. Do you receive his word with faith and submission or with doubt and indifference? - Gospel Meditation, by Don Schwager

  In the opening verses of Psalm 51, we hear David crying out for relief from his own sin. He says, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!" (Psalm 51:1-2). David, after being called out for hooking up with Bathsheba and arranging the murder of her husband Uriah, is desperate for relief from the crushing weight of what he's done. David knows that if left to bear the burden of his brokenness much longer, it will without question kill him. He's desperate for relief from his burden.

  The season of Lent is a time of confession and repentance. It's a season when, like David, we take inventory of our brokenness, the sin which weights us down, the scars and the shame, the issues and the idolatry slung over our shoulders, held under our arms and being rolled behind us. It's a season when we are invited to repent.

  Recovery describes what happens to us after an illness or infection has left our bodies. It's also employed to describe a person's journey back from addiction. There's a huge and largely silent community out there, a subculture, known as the recovery movement: addicts helping addicts to stay clean and sober. This also best describes our relationship with sin. We have an addiction to sin, an attachment to behaviors and attitudes we are all too fond of continuing. We need repentance for our recovery to begin.

Lenten Devotional – Day 31

Q. 84. What does every sin deserve?

A. Every sin deserves God’s wrath and curse, both in this life and that which is to come.

“For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.” (Gal. 3:10)

Fear the judgments of God! Dread the wrath of the Almighty! Do not discuss the works of the Most High, but examine your sins - in what serious things you have offended and how many good things you have neglected. - The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, Book 3, Chapter 4

  Anyone who honestly examines our relationship with God and the many ways we employ in our lives to avoid God’s presence in our lives, we must come to the conclusion that we don’t desire much from God expect wrath and curse. Fortunately, for us God does not see it the same way. I have discovered that sin has its own punishment built into it. When we separate ourselves from the will and presence of God, this separate on its own inflicts injury, hurt and suffering in our lives. What we might call the wrath of God, is only our own sin catching up with us and is all self-inflict. We would rather live under the delusion we are good and upright, even though the evidence shows otherwise.

  In the early part of this century, a novelist researching a book about life in a certain New England town visited the local cemetery as part of his investigations. The writer noted with interest that nearly every tombstone from that era bore a final epitaph. Unfailingly, these were words of praise for the departed with references such as "kind,"  "generous,"  "upstanding," loving" and "faithful" appearing again and again.
This prompted the researcher to ask, "I wonder where they buried the sinners?"

  Former Yale chaplain and seminary president John W. Vannorsdall writes: “In spite of the fact that God must watch his whales die, and our submarines increase, God comes to us with the message of love, not wrath. That's why it seems so remarkable to me that when God comes to speak God's Word to us, that Word becomes a child. A child announced by singing, not by thunder. A child born by lamplight in silent night, rather than a Word which shakes the mountains, pouring rivers of unstoppable fire down every side. The Word becomes a child, which can be received and cannot hurt us: a Word which does not make us afraid. I am prepared for the anger of God, and believe that God has a right to wrath. What is so amazing is that when God comes among us, whatever God's hurt and indignation, God comes not with violence but with love, even as a child vulnerable to our further hurt.” - He Came to His Own Home, 24 December 1978, The Lutheran Series of the Protestant Hour

Lenten Devotional – Day 30

Q. 82. Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?

A. No mere man, since the Fall, is able, in this life, perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but does daily break them, in thought, word, and deed.

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:8)

Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made. - Philosopher Immanuel Kant

  During the Watergate scandal, Leon Jaworski was the special prosecutor. Jaworski a Presbyterian elder, one Sunday he found himself at the New York Ave. Presbyterian Church, the historic D.C. church where Peter Marshall had been pastor. As he sat in worship, he noted the Lincoln pew, which is set aside for presidents to sit in when they visit there for worship, and it's the pew in which Lincoln sat during the Civil War years when he came to church. Suddenly there was a hush in the congregation, and down the aisle walked Mr. Nixon with an usher who seated him in the Lincoln pew. Leon Jaworski, sitting several pews behind that pew, recollected in his mind all that he knew from having listened to the Nixon tapes. He knew that the president could be indicted for criminal activity beyond any shadow of doubt. There he sat in worship. He wondered in his own mind what would happen if the president suddenly stood up and said to the pastor of the church, who was Dr. George M. Docherty at the time, "Dr. Docherty, I would like a moment of special privilege," and then would turn to the congregation and say:

  "I want to say today that, as president of the United States, I have sinned before God and I have lied to you. I have asked his forgiveness and I now ask yours. I have come to this church today to make full disclosure of who and what I am and what I have become. I promise you from this day forward I'm going to do better."

  Leon Jaworski said if he had done that as he had turned it in his mind, we would have probably gathered the president up and put him on our shoulders and carried him back to the White House. It is a thought worth thinking about for all of us to acknowledge our sins. - Dr. W. Frank Harrington, "Does the Oval Office Reflect Who We Are?" Peachtree Presbyterian Pulpit, 1998.

Lenten Devotional – Day 15

Q. 20. Did God leave all mankind to perish in the estate of sin and misery?

A. God, having out of his mere good pleasure, from all eternity, elected some to everlasting life, did enter into a covenant of grace, to deliver them out of the estate of sin and misery, and to bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer.

“But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his mercy, through the water of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:4-5)

"God doesn't lose heart! Beginning with creation God keeps coming up with creative, imaginative ways to respond to our destruction, our refusals, our ignorance and stubbornness and sin. God comes after us and will never stop. Jesus keeps saying this: that he has come to search out what is lost, to find and heal the broken-hearted, to bring good news to the poor. That is what Jesus is here for - unconditional love. God just keeps devising more and more mysterious and humble and spirit-filled ways to get us to be human and love back." - Megan McKenna, from "Parables"

Midway along the journey of our life
   I woke to find myself in a dark wood.
   for I had wandered off from the straight path.
How hard it is to tell what it was like.
   this wood of wilderness, savage and stubborn
   (the thought of it brings back all of my old fears).
A bitter place! Death could scarce be bitterer.
   But if I would show the good that came of it
   I must talk about things other than the good.
How I entered there I cannot truly say.
   I had become so sleepy at the moment
   when I first strayed, leaving the path of truth...” - Dante, The Inferno, I. 1-12, p. 76

  “Before we were born, God knew us. He knew that some of us would rebel against his love and his mercy, and that others would love him from the moment that they could love anything, and never change that love. He knew that there would be joy in heaven among the angels of his house for the conversion of some of us ....

  In one sense, we are always traveling, and traveling as if we did not know where we were going. In another sense, we have already arrived. We cannot arrive at the perfect possession of God in this life, and that is why we are traveling and in darkness. But we already possess him by grace, and therefore, in that sense we have arrived and are dwelling in the light.” - Thomas Merton in Mornings With Thomas Merton, cited in Christianity Today, July 13, 1998, 72.

Lenten Devotional – Day 14

Q. 19. What is the misery of that estate where into man fell?

A. All mankind, by their fall, lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries of this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell forever.

“They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden …., and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” (Gen. 3:8)

“He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:24)

"G. K. Chesterton once likened this world to the desert island site of a shipwreck. A sailor awakes from a deep sleep and discovers treasure strewn about, relics from a civilization he can barely remember. One by one he picks up the relics - gold coins, a compass, fine clothing - and tries to discern their meaning. According to Chesterton, fallen humanity is in such a state. Good things on earth still bear traces of their original purpose, but each is also subject to misinterpretation or abuse because of fallen, 'amnesiac' human nature." - Sins of the Body: Ministry in a Sexual Society, ed. Terry Muck (Carol Stream, Ill.: Christianity Today; Dallas: Word, 1989), p. 63.

  “We don’t actually break God’s laws. They are still standing whether we obey them or not. To try to break God’s law would be like trying to break the law of gravity. If you try it, you’ll discover the law always wins. But when we violate God’s law, it breaks us. That is what guilt and shame is all about. Until we know we are forgiven, we will never walk again. We will certainly never make it home.” - Searching for Home: Spirituality for Restless Souls, M. Craig Barnes, p. 90

  “The real home for which we yearn isn’t the place where we grew up or the new place we’re hoping to build, but the place where we were created to live. Paradise. When Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, we are told that God placed an angel with a flaming sword at the eastern gate. It is the Bible’s way of saying that all of life is now spent east of Eden. In other words, as the saying goes, we can’t go home again. Paradise has been lost. The yearning for it is the only trace that remains.” - Searching for Home: Spirituality for Restless Souls, M. Craig Barnes, p. 90

  “We weren’t created to roam about the earth lost and confused. We were created to live at home with God, which is what defines paradise. Like Adam and Eve, we didn’t realize that at the time because there was something forbidden in the middle of the garden that we couldn’t have.

Lenten Devotional – Day Twelve

Q. 14. What is sin?

A. Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.

“But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 3:21-24, NRSV)

Sin is a breach of nature, a death of the soul, a disquiet of the heart, a weakening of power, a blindness of the sense, a sorrow of the spirit, a death of grace, a death of virtue, a death of good works, an aberration of the spirit, a fellowship with the devil, an expulsion of Christianity, a dungeon of hell, a banquet of hell, an eternity of hell. - Meister Eckhart 

  We are too Christian really to enjoy sinning, and too fond of sinning really to enjoy Christianity. Most of us know perfectly well what we ought to do; our trouble is that we do not want to do it. - Peter Marshall

  What is wrong with the human race? Scripture tells us our basic problem is sin. The human condition is characterized by attitudes, actions, emotions, and human character which distort the image of God in which we are created. Therefore, as humans, we fail to live in the ways God desires, we treat God and others in ways that are not loving and just, and we hold attitudes in which our own self-interests are primary. We have lost, distorted, perverted, or broken the “image of God.” We do not now reflect God in our lives. We no reflect the image of God to others through our lives. We have taken hold of our own agendas and we live with our primary intention being to go our own ways instead of seeking God’s ways for our lives.

  In the New Testament, the writings of Paul conveys the picture of humans as sinners. For Paul, the power of sin is very real. It affects every person “since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). It relates to the origins of the human race, “sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin” (Rom. 5:12), brings alienation and estrangement from God (Eph. 4:18), and leads ultimately to death, “For the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). The power of sin is so strong that it is ultimately only God’s actions in Jesus Christ that can overcome it and break its effects, “Therefore just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all” (Rom. 5:18).

  The bad news about sin is that “all have sinned” and all are guilty (Rom. 3:23, 5:12). The worse news is that it leads to death (Rom. 6:23). Yet this is not the final biblical word. There is hope. For “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23) and “in hope we were saved.” (Rom. 8:24)

Lenten Devotional – Day Eleven

Q. 13. Did our first parents continue in the estate wherein they were created?

A. Our first parents, being left to the freedom of their own will, fell from the estate wherein they were created, by sinning against God.

“They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden …., and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” (Gen. 3:8)

Original sin is in us, like the beard. We are shaved today and look clean, and have a smooth chin; tomorrow our beard has grown again, nor does it cease growing while we remain on earth. – Martin Luther

  Michael R. Nichols writes: "I myself am a Presbyterian, and we do believe in original sin. I've always thought that if you are going to sin, you ought to be original about it."

  He tells the story of driving home to see his mother, and passing on the highway a great big church with a lighted board out front, on which they put slogans and sayings for the edification of the saints and sojourners. "That week the motto was, 'If you're done with sin, come on in.' I got a little closer, and someone had written in lipstick, 'But if you're not quite through, call 272-0200." - Nichols, "Finding Your Own Lake Wobegon: The Healing Power of Humor," Hometown Humor, USA, ed. Loyal Jones and Billy Edd Wheeler (Little Rock, Ark.: August House Publishers, 1991), 209-10.

  Dallas Willard writes about a 2½ year old girl in her backyard who one day discovered the secret to making mud (which she called "warm chocolate"). Her grandmother had been reading and was facing away from the action, but after cleaning up what was to her a mess, she told little Larissa not to make any more chocolate and turned her chair around so as to be facing her granddaughter.