Dear Friends and Members of Shepherd of the Hills,
I love Lent, but I love Lent because of its contrast to the power and majesty of the Easter and Pentecost seasons. Life is not always a mountain top experience (unless you literally live on a mountain). Life, like faith, has its mountains and its valleys. Lent is a season to spend some time in the valley of our faith.
The reality is, on this side of heaven, we will always struggle with sin. We will always struggle with our poor choices. We will always struggle with the desires and temptations of our hearts. We will always struggle with the hurts cause to us by others. Lent is a penitential season for us to focus on some of these realities. The good news of Lent is, in the midst of these tough realities, we still celebrate our standing with God because of what Jesus has done.
As I reflect on our mission, to share the love of the Good Shepherd in word and deed, I am reminded that sharing this love means being honest with the struggles we endure. Often our temptation is to present the best possible image of ourselves as we share life with those the Lord has put in our midst. This Lenten season I challenge each of us to be more transparent with the struggles we bear in our walk of life and faith. We do it for this reason: it is in the midst of these struggles that the power of God becomes most evident.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (Paul, 2 Corinthians 12: 9-10)
We have been given a great gift. The Spirit of Christ dwells in us. It is that Spirit that struggles with us against making those poor choices, acting on temptation, living in foolish desires and bearing grudges against those who sin against us. It is in this power of the Spirit that we speak with the Lord. It is this power of the Spirit that is made perfect in our weaknesses.
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Paul, Romans 8:26-28)
Sharing the love of the Good Shepherd means sharing what He has done for you. We can’t share that if we aren’t open with the ways that we are weak. Blessings to you this Lenten season as we reflect on our weakness, and in so doing, give great glory for the perfect strength of God.
In His Love and Peace,
Pastor Rust