Lent Series Week 7: Three Words that Keep Us Living
Why Gratitude is the Answer to our Culture of Misery
My heart is full this Holy Week.
So full, it turns out, that writing has proven hard.
I keep wanting to write something great — something that matters — something sweeping, theologically brilliant — Holy Week worthy.
Instead, I keep coming back to 3 simple words: Thank you, Jesus.
In this intensely negative, ruminating, exhausted and disappointed world, I fear we’ve totally lost the plot…of true joy, fulfillment, and life, in general.
There are 10,000 reasons to be upset, everyday. Life is certainly full of real problems. Deeply hurting people. Things to pray over before our feet hit the ground.
But the answer to our culture of misery isn’t more commentary about it all.
All I can think about, today, is an old youth group church song we used to sing with these lyrics:
He paid a debt He did not owe
I owed a debt I could not pay
I needed Someone to wash my sins away…
I loved that song so much. I had little sense at that age but enough to know that my entire life hinged on the truth of the 3 lines of that song and its radical representation.
In wrapping up this season of Lent and looking ahead at Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday, I am unspeakably grateful for what our Lord Jesus, alone, has done.
To love, save and redeem us. To do what only He could do.
My words are brief, today, but my heart is full.
Our lives only make sense in light of His sacrifice. And in that, despite the struggles of the world, we live with hope.
For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection.
ROMANS 6:5
Thank you to those who have joined me through Lent! I hope and trust you’ve been well served in these past 7 weeks.
If you haven’t yet gotten a copy of I Want God, which has fasts to use throughout the year, you can get the book HERE.
PS: For my Close Circle Community, I have a short audio devotional 5 Word Prayer for you, Grant Me Even Greater Gratitude, as well as a listening guide with some reflection questions to help create an even fuller experience for you. Keep reading for that access!