ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
March 11, 2022
Is Christianity what you believe or what you do? That is a question debated over and over again. Like so often is true, there is probably a reason not to go to either extreme. In Hebrews 13, we read: “Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have because God is pleased with these kinds of sacrifices.” I’m trying to think of a place in scripture where God is pleased with specific beliefs. Now beliefs do shape what we do, and so what you believe is important. Yet it is much easier to fake beliefs than it is to fake action. It was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” I think it might not only be “Life” asking the question, but God as well. The Season of Lent, the Forty Days before Easter, provides a wonderful time to take an inventory of who we claim to be, what we claim to believe, and to ask whether or not our actions match up. It is uncomfortable when we recognize hypocrisy within our own lives, and the usual reaction is to spin it, deny it or justify it. Lent provides us space to acknowledge it, confess it and to repent from it. Do not be afraid to use this Season as both a gift and an opportunity.
Holy and Gracious God, be my guide in this Season of Lent. Where I am a little uncomfortable, I pray for the courage to take a serious look at my life and whether or not my living matches my believing. Amen.
