Bob loves the season of Lent. I think it reminds him Spring is nearly here. He can’t wait to get outside and smell the fresh new scents. Using his bloodhound nose, Bob has no problem tracking down the biblical basis for such a season.

The Christian season of Lent encompasses the forty days before Easter.  It begins with Ash Wednesday and ends with Easter Sunday. Lent is a season of the Christian Year where believers in Jesus focus on simple living, prayer, and fasting to grow closer to God.

At the baptism of Jesus, the sky opened and the Spirit of God, which looked like a dove, descended and landed on Jesus.  A voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, My Beloved, with whom I am pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17, NRSV)

Jesus was then sent into the wilderness by the Spirit where he fasted and prayed for forty days (Matthew 4:1-11). During his time in the desert Jesus was tempted by Satan. He found clarity and strength to resist temptation. Afterward, Christ was ready to begin his ministry.

Lent is the ideal time of year to repent — to return to God and re-focus our lives to be more in line with Jesus. It’s like a forty-day trial run in changing your lifestyle and letting God change your heart.  Repentance is the key that unlocks the soul’s ability to connect with God.  To repent means to turn around, to stop going in one direction and start going in another one.  It is repentance that makes all the difference in the orientation of our souls in this life.

Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. (Acts 3:19, NLT)

So, you must change your hearts and lives! Come back to God, and he will forgive your sins. Then the Lord will send the time of rest. (Acts 3:19, NCV)

Certainly, no one can really judge the heart of another. Only God can rightly do that. Yet, the New Testament lets us in on how to truly measure the sincerity of one’s repentance (2 Corinthians 7:2-12).  Worldly sorrow or grief does not lead to repentance, but only separation and death. Folks with worldly sorrow beat themselves up but never really change direction. Like Judas Iscariot of old, they punish themselves instead of admitting guilt to Jesus. (Matthew 27:3-5)

Distress that drives us to God turns us around. It gets us back in the way of salvation. We never regret that kind of pain. But those who let distress drive them away from God are full of regrets, end up on a deathbed of regrets. And now, isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out of this with purity of heart. (2 Corinthians 7:10-11, MSG)

Godly sorrow leads to repentance, a real change of direction. The evidence of genuine change is:

• Owning up to our sins and problems.
• Eagerness to make things right.
• Indignation and proper guilt over what happened to hurt or offend another.
• Realizing there is more pain in avoiding the problem than there is in confronting it.
• Desire and energy to do what is best for the person whom we have wronged.
• Willingness to accept whatever consequences that might result from the offense.

Crying and weeping might occur.  Tears are often necessary. Yet, they can also be a cheap form of avoiding true repentance. It might only be a form of worldly sorrow. Instead, there must be solid action that changes direction. We are to rectify offenses, as much as it is within our control to do so.

Deliverance from the power of sin comes through repentance. There are no shortcuts or easy routes to the soul’s orientation to practical godliness. There is nothing romantic about repentance. It is typically messy, usually ugly, and often painful. Trying to take repentance out of the equation is to eviscerate the Christian life. It leaves our souls vacuous and empty.

Sometimes we do not even know we need to repent. Our lives are filled with distractions that take us away from living a life with Christ. We might try to fill the emptiness inside with mindless web-surfing, meaningless chatter, too many activities, or other stuff that just keeps us busy without thinking too much. We run away from real life and from God.

But when we intentionally create a plan to connect with God, the Spirit begins to reveal our need for repentance. Lent is biblical because it highlights our human need for spiritual support and purity. Lent helps us focus on a plan to fast, pray, and serve.

For example, you could take the Christmas cards you received and pray for one of the people/families each day in the forty days. Instead of eating the candy bar or drinking the soda, send them a note of encouragement. Or get up ten minutes earlier than usual and spend those minutes in silence and prayer.

To choose nothing is giving into worldly sorrow and feeling guilty. To choose something, whatever that something is, is to anticipate God will work in your soul to thaw it out, warm it up, and form it to better discover Jesus Christ.

May it be so to the glory of God.