Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. -Psalm 48:9

Concentrated times make for focused meditation. We cannot think about the birth, cross, empty grave, ascension simultaneously. Thus, the church structures the year in a way where each part of Jesus’ life is emphasized. In other words, the calendar gives us the opportunity to meditate on the whole Christ.

Lent is a corporate focus on the cross of Christ and the journey to that cruel tree. As we face with boldness the next thirty-seven days, we need to remember that Lent is a gift from God; a gift of time what we are to steward well.

As we prepare for worship tomorrow, we would do well to remember God’s unfailing love. In love, our Lord Jesus gave his body for us that we would be made whole. Use this season. Don’t let it pass in vain. Meditate on his love for Lent is the embodiment of love.

Read more

These are one-minute Lenten meditations.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be 
tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty 
nights, he was hungry.

Tolkien once said that “Shortcuts make for long delays.” Shortcuts are usually seen as a way of avoiding areas/places we don’t wish to encounter. Perhaps it is easier to choose the easy route; the road which demands less commitment or less repentance. It’s quite true that when we go on a journey, we need to know where we are going. Lent provides a long and winding road which continues in these next thirty-eight days and our destination is Easter. The road to the empty grave is a difficult road, but the only true road to glory. We can’t take shortcuts on this journey. We must walk through the desert places and step on serpent’s heads and take naps surrounded by wild animals. On this Lenten Season, we give thanks that our Lord Jesus did not take shortcuts on his journey to Calvary. Lent is a concentrated time to boast on the cross (Gal. 6:14) and to reorient our spiritual direction.

Read more

Psalm 107:7:
And so Yahweh does the same for his Bride:
He led them by a straight way
till they reached a city to dwell in.

In the pathless mazes of the desert, Yahweh makes a way for his people. This is what Jesus does for us during Lent: he provides a clear path to the city of God. We all need a new orientation in our journey to the city of God. The desert paths of Lent can be filled with frustrations, complaining, hunger and thirst. So, if we are going to face these next thirty-nine days, we need to know the ways of the Lord. In Psalm 107, God is moving his people from desert to city; from ruin to a new civilization. He is forming through his people a new polis; a new city that shines brighter than all other cities.

Lent is the journey through the desert to the new city; it is formation into the cruciform life; it’s improving in our image-bearing status or, as the Westminster Confession says, “improving our baptisms.” But this improvement comes through the crucified way. The journey to Calvary is long.

Let us not mistake, however, the way of the cross as a call to isolation. Rather, the cross restores us into unity with one another. In fact, the Lenten journey must bind us together. Sin isolates us. Sin calls us to take our own ways in the desert than following the cloud by day and pillar by night. Sin prefers to wander, then to confess. Sin desires darkness rather than light; blindness rather than sight. So, let us walk together side by side, prayer by prayer, confession by confession until we reach the great city where the resurrected Jesus awaits us.

Read more