THE INNER ROOM OF OUR HEARTS
This Lent as we meditate on the call to think differently, we must give of ourselves to the task.
We must go into the Inner room and examine our hearts in prayer.
We believe that we are forgiven because we repent.
We are forgiven because Jesus chose to forgive us -therefore our repentance is the choice to accept forgiveness and change our mindset to accept what Christ has done. We are not forgiven because of our sacrifice – our offering of remorse is not enough to forgive sin, only Jesus’s Sacrifice of atonement, is enough, only the saving blood, the sacrificial act of Jesus, could bring about the forgiveness of Sin.
Repentance requires that we embrace the new life that Jesus has won for us, it is a reconciliation of our lives, reordering our thoughts and actions and identifying things that we need to do in response to God’s love.
Repentance is not only a look in the mirror to focus on our own self – it is a commitment to serve Jesus, a process of freeing ourselves from our own self-centeredness, so that we can be available to others, without letting our prejudices, failures, inadequacies and weaknesses, negatively impact on them.
As we begin this lent we acknowledge that we are surrounded by the evils of this world, our dreams and our hopes are in ashes, but we look up to Christ who raises us up out of the ashes and gives us a new way of living. Over this lent we will reflect on how we need to change our thinking away from God giving us new life as if it were a different place we were being sent to -to our lives after repentance being lived in the same conditions as before, the same circumstances as before, but with a different way of living in them, we are given the ability to see things differently, to overcome the loss, failure and brokenness.
Our repentance must aim to avail ourselves to the transformative love of God.
“Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12: 2)
*Reflection*
What does thinking differently about God, about ourselves, about the world and about others require of us?-
What does forgiveness free me to do?
*Prayer*
Lord God as we lay our lives before you seeking your transformative love, renew our hearts for acts of service that we may be free of all that prevents us from serving you.
Amen.
Turn away from your sins and believe the good news.
