Reading The Gospels During Lent

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I have neglecting my time of reading God’s word far too much lately.  This Lenten season I want to be in the Word and today I decided to read through the Gospels as part of my Lenten Journey.  If you want to join me I will be sharing some thoughts through the week about what I am seeing and learning.  You can also print off this PDF I made based on the break up of the readings.  I pray you all can hold me accountable for reading God’s Word this Lenten season.  Have a great day and may your Lenten Journey to the cross remind you of the great love Jesus has for you and me.

Lent Gospel readings 2020

 

Gym floor moments…Do you give yourself time to allow Jesus to be real.

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Last week I was privileged to be on a group mission trip in Knoxville Tennessee.  I love these trips.  l love what they do for students and for me personally.  One of my favorite parts of Group mission trips is what I call “The gym floor moment.” This year was no different and I would say we all need these gym floor moments. Too often we are so busy or preoccupied with life that we miss them.

So what is the gym floor moment?  A gym floor moment is the moments where you sit on the floor and allow yourself to drown out the noise around you and see Jesus in your life.   It doesn’t have to be a gym floor in fact the point isn’t the location, how you sit or even where it happens.  It is merely a moment in faith where you try to drown out the noise of life.  You see for me one of the most powerful moments in life are when we can slow down and allow Jesus into our lives.  Often in our lives we are so busy, overwhelmed, and broken that we miss seeing Jesus.  We miss seeing him walking along side us.  I love the gym floor moment because it gives me an opportunity to speak Jesus in the lives of students or to receive Jesus myself.  When we allow ourselves to be still we can have these moments.

So the question is are you sitting on the gym floor?  Are you allowing yourself to see Jesus holding on to you?  Are you too busy, broken, or overwhelmed that you have pushed him aside and missed it?  Have you focused on everything else and missed Jesus in your life?

I was struck this week, as I took time to be in the word, that Jesus did this very thing. Jesus took time to listen to his Father.  He often spent time in prayer resting so the Father could speak into him,  So here is some advice for you.  Take the time to slow down.  Take the time to have the gym floor moment so you can hear Jesus.  Take the time to slow down and let Jesus be real.  He is always there we just need to slow down sit and see the real Jesus.

34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him,

Mark 1:34-36 (NIV)

Incredible Forgiveness…for me and others

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Incredible Forgiveness
Is forgiveness truly incredible? Am I living a life that shows I know that God’s forgiveness for me through Jesus is the most incredible thing in the world? Today while preparing for a message, I came across this passage of scripture – Luke 5:17-26.
This is one of those interesting stories in scripture about Jesus. It is a story I have come to love over the years. First you see a man who is paralyzed; he can’t walk. His friends bring him to the home where Jesus is teaching because they want their friend healed. They climb to the top of the house, break open the roof, and lower him down. This is shocking for so many reasons I don’t want to get into, but just know that these guys were nuts about their friend meeting Jesus.

Here is the part of the story I want to focus on. Jesus looks at the man and you expect Him to have pity on him and heal him. I mean, this is what Jesus does. He feels for the sick and lame, and He heals them. It happens over and over again in the Bible. Instead, Jesus does something different. He offers the man forgiveness. It was shocking and maybe even underwhelming to the man’s friends, and possibly to the poor paralytic. Here is the thing I struggled with today as I read this. Do we as Christians, when we hear “forgiveness”, miss how amazing it truly is? You see, I think many times we rush by this part and want to get to the healing. Maybe we want to get to the part where we see God do something amazing in someone’s life.

Here is the thing about this paralytic. You see, as a man paralyzed, he would not be allowed to go to temple. He would never have been able to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem and hear of God’s forgiveness of His people. You see, this man was missing the love of God. When Jesus looks this man in the eye and says “you are forgiven”, it may have been the first time he ever heard those words. It may have been the first time he knew God loved him. This truly is incredible forgiveness.

Today in your own life, you may have just skipped over the forgiveness part of this story. You may, like me, want to see God do good in your life and never stop to experience the greatest good we have ever experienced – the goodness of God in sending Jesus to die on a cross and forgive our sins. When we enter worship on Sundays and hear of that forgiveness, do we sit and want something more? Do we want to be healed, or do we want our lives put back together? Maybe instead we need to come and hear those simple words… “You are forgiven!” These are truly incredible words.

Because you are forgiven I would ask one thing. Share that forgiveness with those around you. Maybe it will be the first time they ever experience that forgiveness and it can change their lives forever. You have been forgiven and as you experience that forgiveness, go and forgive others.