Lent gives to us the ability to think more intentionally about who we are in relation to God, our Father. When we begin to think about God, we recognize that he is uncreated, yet the creator. The first half of the Nicene Creed speaks of God and of Jesus Christ:
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
consubstantial with the Father;
through him, all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate
of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end
If you look carefully, you’ll
notice that God the Father begins everything as a series of sending, receiving;
of departure, and return; of separation and reunion. The great theologian of the 12 century, St.
Thomas Aquinas spoke of God as creating a big circular movement in which all
things come from God and then, eventually, return to God. There is a sense in which God created a sort
of circuit where all of creation is meant to be in union with him. Think about the simplest illustration of
birth – life – death. We are created as humans, “imago dei”, “in the image
of God”. He gave us life through
birth and thus released us to live, but eventually, every human, including us, will
all come back to him.
What does this all have to do with
Lent? Yesterday, I wrote about the
progress of holiness in living. We are
called to a “perfection”, in Christ, that will not be fulfilled until we gain
eternal life. We gain life, live life,
then return to the creator of life – “God, the Father Almighty, creator of
heaven and earth”. In between, we
live our lives. Is there a purpose in
living? I would suggest Yes! God has given us – in his image –
reason, will, and choice, and we have the opportunity to learn how to make all
of those things lead us to God. The
problem is, we live in a world that is “self-love” oriented, which tends to not
reason, or choose God’s will. As a
Christian, I am called to repent when I see that I’ve chosen my own self-love
over God’s will. Many may not do so, but
thanks to God, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be my Savior and Lord. He came from God, co-eternal, of the same
substance as the Father, but was sent through the conceiving of the Holy Spirit
into the Virgin Mary, made incarnate, and became man. All of this reminds us that Jesus’ coming,
living, and returning was for our sake.
That means we are not alone in our pursuit of living a Christ-like, holy
life.
I am sent into this world to live
purposefully, and intentionally, with a view of my returning to God, the Father
who sent me. Does that seem
daunting? It need not be, for I am not
abandoned by God as he sent me to live here.
Instead, he told me he would be there for my every need. The writer of the book of Hebrews sums up our
being sent into the world, living within it, and returning to God in a way that
reminds us of what faith in Christ Jesus means.
“Since, then, we have a great high
priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold
fast to our confession.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet
without sin.
Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we
may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Peace
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