2-18-2015

Good Morning All,

     Philippians 2:7; “but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

        Today is Ash Wednesday.  It is the start of the Lenten season; it is a time of penitential thought and focus.  Many people will take the time to “give up” something.  The leading candidates are chocolate, meat, coffee, social media; one young lady gave up makeup.  The idea or thought is to emulate Jesus.  Since Jesus gave up his life e can give something up.  There is nothing wrong with this but it often times falls short.  It can fall short because we can easily fall into the trap of thinking that we are impressing God with our self-sacrifice.  We can fall into the trap of placing the emphasis on impressing our neighbor with our piety and righteousness.  We can fall into the trap of thinking that we are somehow “helping” God to bring about our salvation.  All these are wrong and eventually cause us pain.

     So if you want to give something up, let’s give up self-absorption, selfishness, greed, being judgmental, disunity, and pride.  Perhaps the greatest thing to give up is the way many have such a small view of God.  They limit God’s ability, power and love.  They tend to focus on the size of the problem or struggle and not see the strength of our Creator.  If you want to give something up; try starting there.

    It would seem that a better path would be to truly emulate Jesus.  For the next six weeks or so follow the example of Christ and become a servant.  This is one of the main themes of Scriptures.  Isaiah stresses this, Jesus stresses this in the Gospels and Paul stresses this in his epistles; Jesus came to be a servant.  He became the ultimate servant when he gave up his life in order that you could have life.  He came to serve and not to be served.  This is what the washing of the feet of the disciples is all about.   He came to be your ransom (Matthew 20:28). 

    So if you want to give something up; then give up what is damaging to your faith, your relationship with God and your relationship with your neighbor.  But if you want to emulate Christ; take something up.  First and foremost, add people to your prayer list.  Pray for the Christians around the world who are dying for their faith.  Pray for an end to injustice and suffering; pray for peace.  If you can, volunteer at a food kitchen or a food bank.  If you know someone in need, buy them some groceries or give them an evening of fun like dinner and a movie.  It has probably been a while since they had one.  Go to a nursing home and visit someone who is residing there.  Over to babysit for the young couple down the road so they can have a time to be together as a couple again.  Help out the single parent.  Mentor a child.  If you don’t know anyone, ask your pastor or someone in a school.  Jesus came in the form of a servant; we should be a servant as well.

Father of mercy, lead me to be your servant.  Lead me to show the servant’s love that Jesus gives to me.  Give me a willing heart and a humble spirit.  Lead me to share your love with those around.  Lead me to those who are in the greatest need of your mercy.  In the precious name of Jesus, our risen Servant-king we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret