CPR

Today is Ash Wednesday, and throughout the world, Christians of many branches of Christ's church are observing this unique day in the Christian calendar.  It is a day of penitence, and fasting.  It is, quite frankly, a

rather gloomy day.  In fact, all of Lent seems to be somehow depressing.  Like most Christians, I prefer the celebratory times like Christmas and Easter.

So why do we have Lent?  Why all of this emphasis on Sin, sacrifice, and suffering?

Because, every once in a while, all of us need some CPR to keep us from dying. But not the kind of CPR you may have learned from the Red Cross.

C = Confession. During these 40 days leading up to Easter, it's helpful to take some time to take an honest look at our lives. If you're like me (and you know you are), you'll find that you've made some serious mistakes over the past year. You've messed up. You've let people down. You've let God down.

Confession is simply the act of coming clean with God. "God, here are the things I did that I know were wrong. Here are the good things I didn't do, and I know I should."

P = Pardon. This is the best part! God promises that if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins. Actually, there is a bit of "Red Cross" here. It's the cross of Jesus Christ, stained red by his blood. Jesus paid the price for our sin when he died on the cross. So, if the act of confession made you feel like there was a terrible load on your shoulder, the fact of pardon should make you feel light as air!

It's like pulling up to a toll booth. You owe five dollars to go across a bridge. Problem is, you don't have five dollars, so you're stuck. But, when you get to the booth the toll collector says, "Go on through. The guy ahead of you paid your toll." Since someone else paid it, you don't have to.  Jesus paid for our sins against God. How cool is that!

R = Re-creation. Not only does God forgive our past when we confess our sins, he also starts a life-long process of re-creating us - of helping us to become the person we were always meant to be.

When King David, in the Bible, confessed his sins of adultery and murder (pretty rough stuff, right?), he prayed, ""Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

A few years ago I was at a craft show and watched a potter, working at her wheel. I stood there for almost an hour, watching her work raw lumps of clay into beautiful pots. I was somewhat cruelly pleased at one point when a pot that she had about half finished collapsed into itself on the wheel, becoming once again an ugly lump of earth.  Now, here's the point.  What did she do with that faulty pot?  Did she throw it away?  No.  She carefully pushed it all together, and began to refashion the clay.   Same clay, new pot, re-formed, re-created to do her will.

How wonderful it is when we do allow the Lord to shape our lives.  For as we confess, and are pardoned, and are re-shaped, we move from being tough, squat, ugly pots, full of lumps and impurities; to being pots of beauty and grace, which God is proud to use in places of highest honor in the heavenly kingdom.

Today, we have an opportunity to come clean before our Lord.  Let's be honest in confession, rejoice in God's pardon, and open ourselves to re-creation, into new life with our Lord Jesus Christ.