Day Seven... The Lenten Journey Continues...

"Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun."
~Psalm 37:3-6 (NIV1984)

We have traveled a week, seven days along our Lenten Journey. How is your journey going? Did you promise to give something up for Lent... or add something to your daily routine? Have you kept up with your Lenten promise (whatever it was), or have you been side tracked? Are you beginning to wonder about your promise... whether it really makes any difference whether or not you keep it?

If you are beginning to wonder about your promise, about whether it really makes a difference if you keep it, let me encourage you to examine your heart and your motives. Ask yourself why you made the promise to begin with. Did you make your promise so that you might look good in the eyes of other people, so that they might think you to be especially holy or religious or righteous? Did you make a Lenten promise out of pure habit, because you felt you were "supposed to" or that you "had to"? Or did you make your promise to bring glory to the LORD and to deepen your faith and relationship with the LORD?

The last reason is by far the best one for your having made a Lenten promise... But no matter which of the them was your reason, keeping your Lenten promise makes a difference to the LORD.

As our scripture encourages you to do, and as you think of your promise, "trust in the LORD"... "Delight yourself in the LORD" (in other words, do what pleases the LORD, not you)... and finally, "commit your way to the LORD"...

Your Lenten promise is not about you showing off to others how holy or religious you are, but about you showing your heart to the LORD... and about preparing your heart for the LORD... and about allowing the LORD of LORD's to change your heart so that it reflects his love to all others...

Your promise is important... look into your heart and reflect on what you find... begin again if you need to... ask the LORD to help you with this... that is of course what Lent is all about... journeying with the LORD...