WHY WE DON’T OBSERVE ASH WEDNESDY AND LENT!

WHY WE DON’T OBSERVE ASH WEDNESDY AND LENT!

Matt 4:1-2 KJV

4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

          Ash Wednesday, observed by Catholics, Methodists, Lutherans and Anglicans is the beginning of Lent. Traditionally, the ashes come from the burnt palm crosses from last years Palm Sunday observance. It indicates the fickleness of the mob that first cried “crown Him” only to soon cry “crucify Him!”

          Lent is a 40 to 46 day period that leads up to Easter. It is a period of self deprivation and repentance remembering the 40 days that Jesus was in the wilderness being tempted of the devil. In spite of the honorable thought which forms the basis of Lent, there is not one scripture that suggests or supports it. It is a man made observance whether good or bad. Lent is preceded by Mardi Gras or “fat Tuesday” which is now a time of moral abandonment, gluttony and drunkenness.

Rom 6:1-2 KJV

6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

          The hypocrisy of a wild debauchery followed by the forty-day abandonment of some trivial pleasure, only to return to a routine behavior, is glaringly obvious. It is ritual and little more. No, true repentance and true humiliation is not just a forty day fast but a lifestyle change brought about by becoming a new creature in Christ.

2 Cor 5:17 KJV

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

          Today, if you see a friend with a black smudge on his forehead, know that he has been to church and the ashes of last year’s palm branches have been applied. Understand that he has promised God to give up certain things for a period of forty days. He will not eat meat, although he will eat seafood which Jesus clearly referred to as meat. He will mourn his sin and Christ’s sacrifice for forty days. This is not a bad thing as long as it results in a permanent and not a temporary lifestyle change.

          Immediately after his forty-day experience, Jesus began his earthly ministry. He got busy doing His Father’s will and carrying out His business. This should be the result of any Lenten observance. At its end should be a life of godliness and service.

James 1:23-25 KJV

23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Dear Lord, let me not self righteously accuse those who practice rituals that do not last. Let me instead begin today to practice a godliness that demonstrates that I have been made a new creature in Christ. AMEN