St Peters RC Church Hamilton

“ ‘O Sovereign LORD, You have only begun to show Your greatness and the strength of Your hand to me, Your servant’.” (Revelation 13 v 24 NLT)

Lent is a special time of grace.

Lent is time sent that we can repent,

Relent of foolish ways, disobedient and irreverent,

Those which are sinful, dangerous for us.

Time in Lent is to be spent extra prayerfully,

Expressing remorse, of course as we repent.

‘Rend your hearts,

Not your garments,’ we are told.

This means there must be

For everybody, visibly a difference to our attitude.

We have to make amends

For all the errors of our ways.

“Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” (Psalm 126 v 5 NIV)

Errors where we have failed to love the Lord God,

By failing to love each other.

For love, we did discover,

All thanks to the exemplary example

Of our Saviour, Christ Jesus,

Love is God’s personality.

Love is His method, meaning, means.

Love is His motive always.

Our Father is devoted to us, His family.

He enjoys our company immeasurably,

Therefore He wants nothing to separate us.

“ ‘Is there any god in heaven or on earth who can perform such great and mighty deeds as You do?” (Deuteronomy 3 v 24 NLT)

Sin separates us, offending His Holiness.

Holiness and sinfulness cannot exist side by side.

We have to deride our sin

And focus on Jesus to begin again,

Always heeding the Spirit, who is holy.

He will counsel and correct us.

Let Him then inspect our thoughts,

Looking at our words and conduct,

To see where improvement is necessary.

Life is empty without His company,

For true, full and the final, eternal happiness

Is dependent upon us becoming like Jesus.

“ ‘If any one loves Me, (s)he will obey My teaching. My Father will love him (her) and We will come to him (her) and make our home with him (her)’.” (John 14 v 23 NIV)

Jesus the Christ lived a life of love entirely,

Bringing praise, honour and glory to the Trinity.

Will we?

When we do, hope shines through our every day,

For the life of the Lord Jesus,

That which is hallmarked by holiness,

This is evidently shared with us.

Holy love becomes tangible, visible, audible,

Determining our actions and re-actions.

Love is holiness put into action, a real attraction,

Giving rise to fresh hope as our focus on Christ Jesus.

“Hope is some extraordinary spiritual grace that God gives us to control our fears, not to oust them.” (Vincent McNabb)

“No one whose hope is in You, Lord, will ever be put to shame.” (Psalm 25 v 3 NIV)

With this understanding, please pray, hoping to set the tone for Lent to become a time of special blessing, as it is preparatory to celebrating Easter joy.

Please pray to always put our hope in the living Lord, the One we call ‘Jesus’ because He saves us from sin and final separation from our heavenly Father. Amen.

CATEGORY: (DEVOTION)