Last year, through the ministry of Nancy Leigh Demoss and Revive Our Hearts, I started the practice of observing Lent, or the weeks leading up to Easter Sunday. My denomination does not traditionally practice Lent as some do, but I felt compelled to start the practice in my own life, not because of the tradition or symbolism, but simply to set time apart to focus on Christ. We spend sooo much time getting ready to celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ, and during that time I try to make ways to focus on the real meaning of Christmas. Why should His death, the very thing that purchased my salvation, be passed over any more lightly? No, we don’t need to focus on the commercialization of the holiday to a greater extent, but I do believe we should prepare our hearts and minds to be changed and impacted through this time.
The practice I started last year is to read an extra book during the Lenten season to focus my thoughts on Christ and what He did for me. Last year I read The Incomparable Christ, and was deeply moved! This year I chose the book, “Knowing God” by J. I. Packer. It focuses on several aspects and attributes of God, and I am sure it will be a great study!
The book has 22 chapters, so I will just split most of those up into two separate days and be able to study the material in depth. I am excited to learn more about God and how that knowledge can change my everyday life.
The 40 days of Lent actually started on Wednesday...so yeah, I’m slightly behind in bringing you this post. :) But its not too late….I’d encourage you to set the next few weeks apart in some way, allowing yourself more time to focus on Redemption and making conscious decisions to do so. It does take some purposeful planning, but it isn’t very hard to come up with ways to observe this time.
I’d love to hear what you are doing to observe Christ’s death and Resurrection this year. Do you typically observe Lent? What things draw your heart and mind closer to Christ?
For further reading or ideas, I found Nancy’s post and Lindsay’s post helpful.
I have never celebrated Lent, but this year I am doing a Soul Fast (by Cindy Trimm). So far it is very life-changing! ...Tiffonie
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of the Soul Fast, sounds like a neat practice!
DeleteI had never thought about observing Lent until this year actually. I started thinking about when I researched Pancake Tuesday, actually. =) I agree with you that we should focus more on Christ's death and resurrection as well. That is basis of our salvation. Because I just started thinking about it I haven't really done anything special yet, but I know I am going to be looking into ways to really prepare my heart for Resurrection Sunday. Thanks for the good ideas for next year. =)
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome, and thanks for commenting! You won't be sorry you started the practice. I've never heard of Pancake Tuesday, what is that?
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