Good Morning and Welcome to Lent 2015. Lent is the season of preparation immediately preceding Easter. In the early church this time was spent in final training for Easter baptism for persons who had decided to give their life to the Lord. While the faith and commitment of a life given to God remains the same, there have been many adaptations through the years. As we begin our Lenten journey together this year let’s take a look at some of the roots of the Christian faith and allow our Father to inspire us this year to deepen our walk with Him.
Life commitment. For much of the history of the church, being objects of persecution has been the norm. The Roman Empire had a god and he was the Caesar. In reality they had a lot of “gods”, but what was officially frowned upon was a religion that espoused a solitary, supreme God that was not under the Roman boot. As such the early church experienced repeated periods of intense persecution which included being treated as second-class citizens, torture, and even publically sanctioned murder simply based upon the fact they were Christians.
Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:24 – 27 sets the bar for what it means to follow Him.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in His Father’s glory with His angels and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.”
Becoming a Christian is not simply responding to an altar call to receive a get-out-of-hell card. It can start there, but the Lord is calling us to something so much more demanding and so much more rewarding than that. And the early church dedicated time to teaching initiates about that with Lent being the final exam if you will.
As Christians in the western world we have experienced very little persecution directly impacting our lives, yet the reality is it has always existed. The prince of this world, Satan, has and still does wage a relentless attack against the people of God. Recently we have had the brutality and evil of it exposed in the atrocities committed by ISIS. This is not really new however. In the past 1200 years over 270,000,000 people have been murdered in the name of Islam. To be Jewish or Christian and to hold to that faith was to be under a death sentence. And in large parts of the world today it still is.
The point of this is that a commitment to follow the God of the bible, to trust in the saving work of Jesus Christ on the cross, cannot be taken lightly. What God calls us to is not a life of ease (although we are to rest in Him) nor is it a trouble-free life (but do not worry because Jesus has overcome the world), but it is a life that will be filled with God’s grace and abundant love. When a person accepts Jesus as their savior and Lord, they truly move from death to life. While that may make us targets of Satan (and Islam) it also comes with so many amazing benefits – Jesus’ promise to never leave us or forsake us, we are given the Holy Spirit as our counselor and helper, we are sealed as God’s possession forever, and the list goes on.
Over the coming weeks let’s dig deeper into what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. I would love to hear back from you. Please share your thoughts or experiences with how God has stretched you, taught you, and helped you grow in your faith.
Until tomorrow I pray you will be blessed and be a blessing to another.
areliablefaith 
Hello from my snowed in world! Over the past 3 days of being snowed in here in JC I have had an abundant amount of time on my hands. At first I was just relieved to have a little more sleeping time and time to catch up on school work I was already behind on! (only week 2 of school)
Today It has been lovely to slow down and have time to read this blog and really think about what God has been doing in my life. I have to say that I have struggled in my walk with God since moving to JC because Michael and I still haven’t found a church home here. We have met some amazing friends that we can fellowship with but it isn’t the same as being a serving member of the body of Christ. Without the constant reminder of serving others at church I notice that I focus more on myself and issues with my school, my husband and my family than I focus on God and the plan that He has for me. I have noticed this trend before where I come back from a mission trip or great church service I have this “spiritual high” where I feel close to God and on the path that he is leading me and then I jump back into my “normal” life activities and the things of the Lord fall to back of my mind and low on the priority list. I know that being a serving member in a church helps me keep my priorities focused more on God so I pray that Michael and I can find a church home here.