Category: Lent

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

Jesus radically commands that aim our eyes upward onto Him instead of constantly focusing on our daily existence. Put your faith in the Father to know and care for your daily needs while you aim your sights on the things of the kingdom. He calls His followers to a higher way of living; to deny it is sin.

Have mercy on me, a sinner.

I fail over and over to lift my eyes. I often think my sacrifice on behalf of ministry is all that God calls me to do and it is often more than I can handle as a man. I think that until I look at the cross and know that it is a cup that I could never drink.

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

Jesus speaks to a forgotten part of the Radical Christian’s life when he speaks to our desire to serve both God and Money. We want to serve God, to walk with Jesus, as it is convenient but many times we are conflicted because it conflicts with our desire for comfort and a middle class lifestyle. Lent is the season in which we traditionally sacrifice something as a part of our discipleship but what are we really giving up? Is it truly costing us something – really costing us – to sacrifice. How does our idea of sacrifice align with the Lord’s words in Luke 14:33: “Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

The Radical Lord does not call us all to asceticism, simply to proper prioritization. We must serve God and Him alone without conflict. In one week, our reflections turn to the agony and the glory of Passion week. Where will our hearts and minds be?

Higher on the Hillside with Radical Jesus: Lent Reflection 20

“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Does Jesus give a more radical warning against Christian exhibitionism than this and the previous passages? Our practice of sacrifice during the Lent season can so easily lead us into following the hypocrites in their displays of discomfort and chest pounding. It is so tempting to seek approval and admiration for our sacrificial behaviors, marking our holiness with the looks and words of those who notice our fasting or that our knees are like the camel’s.  When we seek any other notice than that of our Savior, he asks “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”

Instead, lets comb our hair and wash our face this morning and let the joy of the love and acceptance of the Lord shine in us. Lets fight the temptation to display ‘our righteousness’ and allow the knowledge of our security in the ultimate sacrifice to be displayed in every moment of our day. Our reward lies with the King, not with the world. Radical, isn’t it?

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

As Radical Jesus walks us closer and closer to the cross, we find him challenging every aspect of our lives of faith. He not-so-gently turns the spotlight of our practices of our ourselves and onto His Father, where it belongs. We’re jarred by this since it contradicts everything we have known. Everyone knows that those closest to God wail the loudest and use the most words during prayer meetings, don’t they?

Who are you when you are alone with God, Jesus asks us to consider. Do your prayers have the same vibrancy that they exhibit in public? Are the same number of words necessary when it’s just you and your Father? It is a radical challenge to move the focus of our prayer back to where it belongs rather than using prayer to gain attention. It’s there that we meet the unseen Father, the one who craves our heart to heart relationship with Him.

Will your concept of God be radically changed when Easter is celebrated? Are you willing to let your life be radically changed by Jesus today, this week, this month, or will His sacrifice go unnoticed?

The readings for this glorious, almost-spring morning are Joshua 5:9-12 and Psalm 34. Deliverance through faith in God is a an at once and in the future event. He works progressively in our lives to bring us from stage to stage and He encourages us to put up markers of stone in order that we might look back and see how far he has brought us. When others see our cairns, they too are intrigued and question their meaning. What an opportunity to share the goodness of the Lord with them…

A nice focus on discipleship for Lent over at the Wheatland Mission . The turn toward picking up new habit is a refreshing change during a period of traditional sacrifice.