Dear Faith Family,
By now, it's clear that through the Lenten season and accompanying practices, we are invited to die. A daunting invitation, no doubt! Yet, when embraced, we soon find ourselves not alone and confined, but instead surrounded by a host of others following Jesus along the road to cross and tomb expectant that will share in what comes after. "For," as the apostle Paul points out,
"one who has died has been set free from sin...if we have died with Christ...we will also live with him...he died to sin...he lives to God...consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."
(Romans 6:7-11).
Living "free from sin" sounds nearly as daunting as dying to it. At least to me! While certainly aspirational, the prospect of navigating daily living--with family, job, illness, injustice, bills and to-dos, co-workers and bosses, wars and rumors of wars, endless ways to disconnect and constant encouragement to get more of everything--without sinning seems possible only in another world! Rare is the day when some attitude, action, or affection is not off the mark to some degree. Whether in relationships, responsibilities, or toward God Himself, either out of ignorance or arrogance, I am not transgression free.
Good thing that is not God's presumption of me!
Don't get me wrong; God desires us to live on the mark. He wants you and me to choose His way of life and forgo the ways of death. Our heavenly Father just knows we don't always do so! Actually, as we saw in Psalm 32 this past Sunday, He presumes that we will find ourselves transgressing the markers of His path and in need of regular course correction.
How God responds to our missteps (wanton or accidental) generates the atmosphere of our Lenten journey. The psalmist helps us recognize that the very breath of life is the air of forgiveness.
Blessed is the one whose
transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the person against whom the
LORD counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit (breath) nothing is hidden.(Psalm 32:12)
All we have to do is open up our lungs and inhale. Acknowledge that we are not transgression free, but free from the bonds of our transgression in the atmosphere of His forgiveness (Ps. 32:5).
As we acclimate to the climate, we, like the psalmist, begin to experience the "Bless-edness," happiness, of living in "another world." Not a superficial, fragile, or fleeing happiness, but the deep wholeness which comes from a soul in communion with God--daily and intimately instructed, taught, and counseled by Him in the way to living, on the mark, free from sin (Ps. 32:8).
So as we continue the pilgrimage of Lent together this week, let me encourage you to TAKE A DEEP BREATH (or three!), LISTEN, and LIVE FREE, dead to sin and alive in Jesus. Seriously!
Before entering into the final movements of the Prayer of Examen, take three deep breathes. Fill your lungs with the air of life through each breath, saying what Psalm 32 trains us to say:
Breath In: "I am forgiven!"
Breath Out: confessing where you stepped off the way.
Breath In: "My sin is covered!"
Breath Out: acknowledging where you've missed the mark.
Breath In: "God does not hold my guilt against me!"
Breath Out: The shame that keeps you hiding.
Then listen to the counsel of the One who wholly sees you, from whom you have nothing to hide, but who hides you in His freeing love (Ps. 32:7)! Let Him instruct you through the examen and teach you the way free from sin in "another world"-- His presence!
"If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."
(John 8:36)
May we abide in His Word, and may Truth set us free.
Love you, faith family! God bless.