2010 Lenten Season

Tomorrow is the beginning of the Lent season - what will you be surrendering in order to partake in Christ's suffering?

I admit I do not know the ins and outs of this upcoming season, I have only started to observe this as part of my faith in the past few years. However, I do believe that it is a blessed time to focus on and walk in the suffering of Christ as we approach Easter.

Something I think a lot of people may miss out on is that Lent is not merely a time to "give something up", but it is, I believe, more importantly a time to fill this void with more of God. Our Father's purpose is never to make us miserable for the sake of being miserable! Do we dare excitedly anticipate this season of sacrifice in order to make more room in our hearts for the Creator of the universe??

Our "sacrifices" and "suffering" that we voluntarily undergo during the upcoming 40 days are nothing. We will never come close to the sacrifice and suffering of Christ's cross. But let us bring these small, embarrassing sacrifices to His feet and ask Him to beautify them.. burn away any selfish motivation and sanctify, purify, accept these offerings.

More of You, so much less of me

So farewell, Facebook. I'm sorry I let you eat so much of my time. Maybe when we meet again we'll be able to have a healthy relationship.

please, have my lunch.

I was listening to a sermon on Grace FM today, and I was SOOO convicted as I was walking (rapidly, because I was late) from TD Waterhouse Stadium to class! I can't for the life of me remember the name of the speaker, but she was talking about surrendering what little we have in order for God to use us fully.

She used the parable of the 5 barley loaves and 2 fish... pointing out that such a lunch implied that the boy who provided it was probably poor. I never thought about that little boy having the CHOICE to obey and give this measly lunch to Jesus - he could have refused to believe it would make any difference to a crowd of >5 000 people and given the disciples a hard time. 

That's what we are asked to do, with what little we have; because what we have is little. We know so little, we can only do so little, our 5 loaves and 2 fish are nothing compared to the great task we are meant to accomplish. On our own... there is no way we could feed ten people, let alone 5 000. We need Jesus... we need God to take the small lunch we have and multiply it with his awesomeness into something crazy-huge. Into something beautiful. 

I feel that these days I am being asked to surrender my lunch... and heaven knows it's so difficult to trust God enough to do so. But I want very much to do just that- to surrender my lunch completely... not hold anything back and let it be USED as it was meant to be used... to not just feed myself, but the people around me- the people I encounter everywhere I go. 

So... Lord... Yes. Have my lunch.