Covered in Righteousness!

Happy Easter!
Christ has come as a covering sacrifice, dying in our place to exchange God's wrath on our sinful lives for a righteousness we could never earn. He didn't stay dead, though! If He had, everything we (as followers of Christ) believe is meaningless, He'd be nothing but a martyr. Instead, He rose from the dead!

He came willing to die a death we deserve and He came pure, holy and blameless. All our righteous acts (everything good we do on our own) are like filthy rags (literally menstrual rags, sorry for that image?). We all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. (Isaiah 64:6). Yet through Christ's death, those who place their entire lives and being and faith in Him and Him alone, are cleansed and made righteous.

I've grown up in church. I've served in the church in some way almost my entire life, whether that be through helping at VBS, leading worship, leading bible studies. I've always tried to do the right thing, and have never been much of one to stray from the "goody two-shoes" life. But you know what? No matter how many Sundays of church I attend, or how many homeless mouths I feed, or how many good things I do, I am still a filthy, lying, thieving, murderous, idolatrous, covetous, adulterous sinner.... without Christ. And IN Christ I am covered in His righteousness, seen as Christ!

Last week, Beau Hughes, my campus pastor at The Village Church, say that "too often the gospel gets stuck between our head and our hearts, but when it finally clicks, it begins to transform your life and will produce a fruit of love for other people." Am I loving others? Yes, but not with the fervor for which Christ does.

Tonight, Matt Chandler, our head pastor, explained how the Law (known often as the 10 Commandments), which everyone is judged by, no longer has the freedom to terrorize at the point one places their faith in Christ. So I am inherently evil and disgusting and sinful, but because I have placed my faith in Christ, I am no longer bound by the law! I have freedom from sin and instead can rejoice in the Law, praising the Lord for this "diagnostic" to show me how much I need Christ. Praises!!



SO basically, this was the Easter post you were probably expecting... but really, it was more for me to be able to get these thoughts down and work them out through the written word. I'm still feeling a little dry spiritually, but it is comforting to know that the Lord loves me, regardless of how I sometimes feel. He will provide (and keeps proving that to me time and time again)!

Lent - More than a Roman Catholic Tradition?

God has brought me to a wonderful church home where the teaching is biblical, the people are real, and spiritual growth is happening. As a covenant member of the Village Church, I try to take to heart things that our church elders and pastors believe to be important...

However, a couple Sundays ago, they announced that we could pick up guides to Lent in the back and I was a little confused... Isn't Lent something that only Catholics do? Isn't that only for people who are taking religion to a moralistic legalistic extreme? The Bible doesn't tell us to abstain from something for forty days, anyways... Why are we encouraging this? (So, if I admit it, I was quite skeptical and very confused).

I picked up the Lent guide today, and though I had reservations, I am completely on board. The Village Church has been celebrating particular seasons in the life of the church. We journeyed through the anxious anticipation of Advent together, with Advent being "a season of ever-increasing light awaiting the incarnation." We prayed through the month of January together, coming together every Wednesday for campus-wide prayer meetings. And now, we are symbolically following Christ into the wilderness (the forty days He fasted and withstood temptation, found in Matthew 4:1-11, as well as in Mark and Luke) during the season of Lent.

The season of Lent is a time to approach the cross. If we skip right to Easter, we just experience the glorious resurrection---but how thoroughly can we understand the joy of the resurrection if we haven't realized the pain and suffering and angst of the cross, first?

The season is about denying myself, not for the sake of denial or for a legalistic doctrine, but to bring a greater focus to the gospel that sustains. It is emptying myself of something lesser to be greater filled with something more--Christ.

 Broken down into seven weeks of biblical reflection, the guide invites me to fast from seven different areas (one to correspond with every week).
Week 1: Food
Week 2: Television and Movies
Week 3: Social Networking and Internet
Week 4: Caffeine and Sweets
Week 5: Radio and Music
Week 6: Shopping for Non-Essentials
Week 7: Sleep

I may blog about it as I go through, or I may not... we'll see! But I wanted to put this out there for anyone to join me. This week is food, and because of my Hypoglycemia I am not partaking in a full-scale food fast. Instead I'll be partaking in a liquid fast, with one meal a day. Again, my emphasis here is that fasting, from anything, is not supposed to be about missing that substance or about bringing glory to myself, but is instead to draw nearer to the Lord!!

As far as the Sleep fast goes---they are not encouraging a week-long sleep fast, but rather to stay up an hour or two longer, or awake an hour or two earlier, in order to spend that time in prayer. They are also encouraging the devotion of one entire night or morning to prayer.


Here are some resources for you to check out if you'd like to join me! I would love to know who else is journeying through the season of Lent. :)

Q&A Video with Matt Chandler over Lent
You can download the Guide to Lent from this page!


If you read this---tell me you were here! I would love your feedback--no matter what your opinion is.