By Reverend  Donn

During the season of Lent people may try a variety of things to deepen their spiritual life and improve their walk with Christ. Some people will give up chocolate, or TV, or gossip; others may decide to add more time for devotions, Bible Reading or prayer. But sometimes we can be distracted by even the best of our intentions.

We read and study the Bible not to simply get more knowledge about God it’s about getting to know God better. We can be distracted thinking that it’s about information and we totally miss out on the transformation that takes place when we spend time in God’s presence.

We spend time in prayer and we may get distracted and pray as if we are trying to change God’s mind or persuade God to do something we want. Other times we think if we could get better at praying then somehow God would hear us and answer our prayers. But the purpose of prayer is not to get better at praying, the purpose of prayer is to spend time with God and as we spend more time in God’s presence we discover a gift: prayer doesn’t change God, prayer changes us. The more time we spend with God the more our perspective and priorities change.

Such disciplines as Bible study and prayer time isn’t always easy, and it is seldom convenient, but it is always rewarding. Like physical exercise, we discover that if we discipline ourselves, dedicate ourselves, and commit ourselves, our habits change, we pay more attention to what we are putting in our bodies, make different food/drink choices, our health improves, we rest better, have more energy, and we actually feel better. In the same way, when we spend more time letting God pour love and grace into our lives, we become more filled with love and grace and find ourselves filled not only with love and grace, but also joy and laughter. We see the world and others differently.

Jason Gray had a song out a few years ago that helped echo this truth: “I need more than a truth to believe; I need a truth that lives, moves, and breathes,… Its gotta be more like falling in love, than something to believe in, more like losing my heart, than giving my allegiance… it was love that made me a believer in more than a name, a faith, a creed, falling in love with Jesus brought the change in me.”

I pray that during this Lenten season we may discover or rediscover the song God puts in our heart and reawaken our passion for Jesus.