Lent and Your Family

Do you and your family do anything for Lent?  Many ignore the season of Lent because of its connection and association with rigid legalism.  For many Christians, the concept of Lent is tarnished because of those who celebrate sin on Mardi Gras in advance of their “repentance.”

However, fasting and repentance in advance of celebrating Resurrection Sunday is an ancient church tradition, written about by Irenaus of Lyons (c. 130 – c. 200).  Lent is intended to be an extended time of self-examination and repentance.  Not unlike Advent, the weeks before celebration are spent in reflection and prayer, a special time of year to focus on our Savior.  During “Holy Week,” from Palm Sunday to Good Friday to Resurrection Sunday, we remember the events of the Passion Week and rejoice in our salvation through the suffering and death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord.

I invite you to consider Lent this year!  As we remember how the weight of our sin was placed on our Savior (Isaiah 53:4-6), as we celebrate His victory over sin, death, and the grave (1 Corinthians 15:54-57), and as we rejoice in the new life we have in Christ because of His resurrection (Romans 5:10), let us remember David’s prayerful self-examination of Psalm 139:23-24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”  As we look at the cross this season, let us turn to God in repentance and faith, rejoicing in the new life we have in Christ.

I encourage you and your family to find a Bible reading plan for Lent that you can go through during family devotions each day.  If you and your family do not spend time looking at God’s Word together, what a great time for you to start!

May you walk in the new life of our Risen Lord!

Ben Purves

Pastor of Student Ministries

Occoquan Bible Church