Lent Devotional 2024

DEVOTION – by Troy Gambrell:

Picture a soldier that enters the battlefield at his general’s command. The soldier and the general likely have the same desired outcome, but the soldier on the front lines may have a different strategy. The soldier’s strategy might be one that seems less risky for him, but his commitment to his general and his fellow soldiers might cause him to say “Sir, yes sir”.

When Jesus is speaking to this crowd of people, they are begging Him for miracles and for physical bread, but Jesus is doing everything to get them to see that He came for a different reason than their physical needs. Jesus wouldn’t be sidetracked from the command and desires of His Father. Faith Family, can you see it? The crowd was begging for physical blessing, but God knows the depths of our hearts and the true needs of His children. So what is the Father’s will? If you move down to verse 40, we see that His Father’s will is “that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life.”

There is incredible gravity in what Jesus is saying here. The fact that He would give up His will to do the will of the Father tells us a couple things about His character. Jesus is selfless. Everything about His life was a mirror to reflect the heart of the Father. When we see the actions and attitude of Jesus, we are looking directly at the heart of God. Jesus is committed. He knows the mission and he knows what the Father has called Him to. Jesus is trustworthy. He didn’t waiver from His commitment which tells us that we can trust the plans that He has for us.

I don’t think it is that Jesus wanted to do His own thing, but maybe the way He went about it would have been different. We see this during Holy Week as Jesus is preparing to go to the cross and he prays to His Father “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Jesus prayed for a different way within the same will. Was there a different way that fulfilled the same will? Don’t you think that His Father would have chosen a different way than to give His son to be crucified? God knew the WAY that you and I would be saved and Jesus trusted the WILL of His Father every step of that WAY.

“I am Thy servant to do Thy will, and that will is sweeter to me than position or riches or fame, and I choose it above all things on Earth or in Heaven.” A.W. Tozer

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“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” 1 Timothy 1:15

DEVOTION – by Matt Morgan:

When we think about why Jesus came, it can be easy to think that other people need Jesus more than we do.  Sure, I have made my mistakes, but I’m certainly not as bad as “that person.” It is interesting that throughout the Apostle Paul’s ministry, his view of his need for Jesus deepened. The more he came to understand who Jesus was and what He came to do, the more Paul realized how desperately he needed a savior.  Before encountering Christ, Paul considered himself blameless (Philippians 3:6). Years later, he’d describe himself as “the least of the apostles” (1 Corinthians 15:9). Some years after that, he’d call himself “the least of all the saints” (Ephesians 3:8) and “foremost” of sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). The shift we see in Paul was not out of defeat or shame, but it flowed from a heart of deep gratitude and worship.

As we journey through this Lenton season focusing on why Jesus came, we must start by recognizing that Jesus came to save sinners.  A sinner is someone who has missed the mark and comes up short of the perfection that a holy God requires. Sin seperates us from God and it was the sin problem that Jesus came to fix.  In Romans 3:23 Paul also writes “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  The Greek word here for “all” means “all.” It means me and you. Jesus didn’t come to save “that person,” He came to save me.

In order to be saved, we must come to a place where we repent of living life our way and accept the life that Jesus alone can give.  At its core, sinners are those who have pushed God out of the center and made themselves the center of their worlds. Sinners are centers, and repentance means we turn from our ways and put God back at the center of our lives.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

• How does it encourage you to remember that Jesus came to save sinners?
• In light of this truth, how is God inviting you to repent today?
• Take a moment and pray thanking God that Jesus came to save sinners, like you.

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Welcome to the season of Lent. Our first weekly devotional will be posted on Sunday, February 18th.

Have you ever slept for a long time and woke up thinking, “I had no idea how tired I was”? Sometimes we are aware of our limitations and our needs, and other times we move through life unaware of how we are being impacted by our human limitations.  Each year, leading up to Easter we have been given the gift of the season of Lent. For many centuries the church has used Lent to remember how much each of us needs Jesus.  Over the years there have been many practices added to the observation of Lent, but at its core is a focus on our need for repentance. Lent is an opportunity for us to say, “I forgot how desperate I really am for Jesus.”

Our desire at Sanctuary is to intentionally make room for God to work in our hearts and transform us to be more like Jesus.  Easter is a day of incredible celebration as we rejoice in the empty tomb and a Savior who has defeated death. In our busy lives where the urgent fights to displace the important, it can be easy to wake up on Easter morning and miss the work that God desires to do in us leading up to this day of celebration. A deeper appreciation for our need for Jesus will heighten our joy and celebration on Easter for what Jesus has accomplished for us.

Before there could be life, there was death. Before there was victory, there was hopeless defeat. Before there was rejoicing, there was separation. Before there was light, there was a deep darkness. The season of Lent invites us to sit in our humanity and come face to face with the reality of our need for forgiveness. Lent reminds us of our deep need for repentance.

Over the next several weeks leading up to Easter, we are going to look at six reasons that Jesus came.  As we look at these “I have come” statements, it is our prayer that our appreciation for why Jesus came will grow as we are reminded of how much we need Jesus. These weeks will remind us of where we would be if Jesus had not come, and hopefully move us to deeper worship because He did come!

Each Sunday a short devotional will be posted here and we invite you to read and reflect on your deep need for Jesus.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

Worship with us this Lent season on Spotify or Amazon Music.