The season of Lent goes on and so does the time for us to reflect on our own lives in the light of God's love and promises. Many people think Lent is a time to give up something they love or like and suffer. I used to think the same way and promised to give up chocolate, meat, soda pop, movies.... the list can go on. And of course I used to fail miserably as well. I dreaded the arrival of Lent each year. In 1994 my friend Lucinda Brown enlightened me, so I quit my usual practice during Lent. Instead, I think of it as a time to learn new things or to add a good new spiritual practice in my life.
The prophet Isaiah tells us that:
God is creating a new heaven and a new earth
as His joy where His faithful people
will live good prosperous long lives,
where they will plant vineyards and eat the fruit,
they and their offspring will be blessed by Him,
where the snakes will eat dust and
where lamb and lion shall feed together,
where God's people will not be hurt,
where God will hear them before they speak and
will answer their prayers before they finish speaking.
How hard is it to believe in that new heaven and new earth God is creating? Why would we not want to be a part of that new Jerusalem?
The truth is that to me it is easier to feel guilty for my own shortcomings and put my self in a place to be punished. Strange as it may sound that's generally true for many people. Let's try to trust God's love that promises us a new heaven and new earth. So, I invite you this Lenten season to choose to be faithful to the God that is like no other. God is delighted in us. Why is it so difficult to believe that?
Prayer: Great God, help me and help all of us to choose to be your faithful people in the midst of all these temptation we face each day. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Isaiah 65:17-25
The Glorious New Creation
17 For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice for ever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labour in vain,
or bear children for calamity;
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
and their descendants as well.
24 Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
says the Lord.
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