At the core of the Lenten season is God's love for us poured out on the cross.
Brothers and sisters:
Love can often feel heavy… heavy in spirit, soul, body, heart, or mind. Or, if you are like me, you could have experienced moments in life where love felt heavy on all accounts. Alternatively, you might also be asking yourself, “Heavy? What does ‘heavy love’ really mean?“
William Shakespeare, in Romeo and Juliet, describes love as “Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake—it’s everything except what it is!” In other words, depending on your lens, state of mind, or peace of heart, love can often feel the exact opposite of what it truly is at its core.
No matter whether you are talking about love of self or love toward others, it can feel heavy if we believe we need to generate the love ourselves. It truly depends where we believe love comes from–ourselves or God.
So, ask yourself, have you received God’s love today?
As Christians, we can rest in the truth that the foundation of love is God, expressed to us in His Word and by His Spirit. His love is merciful, holy, and deep. He loved us before we were even created in our mother’s wombs, before we could do anything for Him. There is nothing we can do to make Him love us more nor can we do anything to make Him love us less. God loves us because He is Love. (1 John 4:8).
If we spent our time allowing Him to love on us instead of trying to love others, He would fill us so full of His love that it would overflow onto those around us. You cannot give what you first have not received.
Experiencing God's Love Through Jesus
While we can witness the power of God’s love for His people throughout the Scriptures, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in the Gospels paints a beautiful and compelling picture of God’s love like none other.
So, let us spend this Lenten season on a journey with Jesus to meditate on and savor the depth of God’s love. Let us use this time clear the clutter, silence the noise, and recognize that the urgent is not always the most important. The most important thing is our relationship with Christ.
There is often the misconception that Lent is only observed in the Catholic Church. However, contrary to this belief:
“Lent is one of the oldest observations on the Christian calendar. Like all Christian holy days and holidays… Early church father Irenaus of Lyons (c.130-c.200) wrote of such a season in the earliest days of the church, but back then it lasted only two or three days, not the 40 observed today.” The Beginning of Lent (ChristianityToday.com).
During Lent we have an opportunity to infuse our daily lives with important spiritual practices, such as prayer, meditation, fasting, remembering, and simplifying to deepen our hunger and awareness of God’s love and mercy toward us. It is a time to “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 1:1-2 NKJV.
I encourage you to take time out over the next 40-days to journey with Jesus in intentional times of quiet, prayer, medication and reflection. Go slow, realign your focus, quiet the noise, listen, pay attention, reflect, and repent. Prepare for God to show up in your life as you walk to the cross with Jesus during Holy Week and celebrate His resurrection throughout the Easter season.
As you do so, ask Him to reveal His love for you in a greater way than you ever perceived before. Allow Him to fill you up to overflowing with His immense love for you. Don’t be surprised when you find that His love effortlessly overflows to all of those around you as well.
Let us spend this Lenten season on a journey with Jesus to meditate on and savor the depth of God’s love.
Pray with me:
Lord, as we journey with you during this Lenten season, we give You thanks and praise as we remember Your unconditional love for us. You loved us so much that You gave Your only beloved Son as sacrifice for our sins at the cross. As He uttered His final words, “Tetelesti” (It is Finished), our sins were forgiven as You breathed new life into us. I pray that You give each one of us a greater revelation of the magnitude of that love every day, that it would fill us up to overflowing so that we accurately represent Your love to those around us. – Amen.
Kristine Ingraham is the co-founder of The Viking and the Lioness Ministries, Inc. alongside her loving husband, Rick Ingraham. They love God and through their ministry, teach others to “Get Out” into the wilderness with Him to heal, become whole and live well… spirit + soul + body. Kristine is a certified RevFit instructor from Platoon 25 and she and her husband are certified RevWILD instructors from Squad 3.
Everything You Need to Know
What’s the purpose of Lent? How long is the Easter season? What does any of this have to do with Jesus?
Learn all about Lent and Easter on our Resources for a Healthy and Whole Lent & Easter Guide! Deepen your hunger for God with Lenten devotionals, Holy Week resources, podcasts, and other related reading.
