Welcome to Lent!  This season, we’re blessed with a set of Lenten devotionals by contributing author Lee Hinkle.  Find out more about Lee at the bottom of this article, or at hinkledownunder.com.

Reading

John 1:1-18 (ESV)
Isaiah 1:2- 20 (ESV)

Meditation

In the midst of darkness and destruction, is there hope?

When the world around us looks crazy and out of control, is there hope?

When every new day seems to bring new challenges, is there hope?

Brokenness scares us because we believe things cannot be put back together. We are taught it from an early age. And even if they do get repaired, they are never “as good as new.” Ash Wednesday reminds us of our sin. It reminds us of our brokenness and frailty. It is good to be confronted in this way. It is good to be reminded that we cannot understand the Light of Christ and that our human attempts are rejected.

It is also good to hear the reminder that we can be born of God, made more new than even new. That we can be made clean; that we receive grace upon grace. All is not lost, there is hope! The midnight hour will pass and the light will begin to peak out in the dawn. The sorrow will be made joy. We will see the Glory of God. God will teach us how to pursue Him. He will wash us and guide us toward justice.

Prayer

Father, we know that our attempts to please you fail. We do not understand the light on our own. We want to possess it instead of being possessed by it. We want our work, our history, our striving to count for something. We are estranged, but you break in and shine light even more. You make us your children. You wash us and make us clean. You change us so that we can be obedient in response to your love not as a way to can it. You redeem us. We thank you, Jesus, for being full of grace and truth; thank you making a way for us. Move in us today to show us how we have been made new. Pour your hope into our lives. Spirit, enable us to cling to the truth of the Gospel; that we are now children of God. Amen.

Lenten Action

Over the first part of this Lenten season, hide John 1:1-18 in your heart. Read over it, write it out, and listen to it. Do not do this in order to gain acceptance from God, but rather do it as worship. We receive grace and truth through Christ. Let these verses become a reminder and sermon to you about who you are in Christ. You are a Child of God by His own making.

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Lee Hinkle is an American pastor who, with his family of 7, felt God’s call to pack up and plant a church in Fremantle, a town in Perth, Western Australia.  Last Summer, the Hinkles left Indianapolis and arrived in Oz to begin their work.  You can follow their adventures at hinkledownunder.com.