“God’s Life in You”
Main point: Through ongoing awareness of our dependence on God,
God’s life comes alive in us.
Introduction
On this Ash Wednesday we look straight in the face of our own mortality.
We taste the fragility of life.
We are reminded that we were formed from dust and to dust we will return.
And the time between those two bookends is little more than a drop in the bucket.
Vaper in the wind.
A wave in the ocean.
We blink and 10, 20, 40, 80 years have passed - here today and gone tomorrow.
We face our mortality and we ask this question: If I am only here for a short time, what really matters?
And our answer comes in the shape of a cross - etched by ashes on our forehead.
It is through facing death that we realize the futility of our striving for vain things with the short time we have on this earth. And the only thing that truly matters in this life is the life of God flowing through us into the world. This is significance. Only the life of God will remain when our short time on earth is over.
BUT HOW?
Assuming we agree that pursuits of power, wealth, pleasure, and significance for ourselves are futile and will be lost to the sands of time.
Assuming we agree that the life of God in us is all that will last in eternity.
How do we live more fully into that life - God’s life - and less into the life that will vanish when we take our last breath.
For that question, the Season of Lent which begins today brings a substantial reply. And it comes from this teaching from Jesus to his disciples about prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
The link is not obvious, but it is simple: Through these disciplines we become aware of our total dependence on God. And as our awareness of our dependence on God grows, God’s life in us also grows.
What is prayer if it’s not an admission that we don’t have it all put together and we can’t save ourselves? And in the end, God will save us.
What is fasting if it’s not a reminder that our daily sustenance - the very food we put in our mouths - is provided by God. And in the end, God will provide for us.
What is giving if it’s not a declaration that God provides for all my needs in better ways than I can provide for myself? And in the end, God will supply for our every need.
These disciplines are reminders of our dependence and trust in God’s provision. And we voluntarily take up these practices to give us those reminders, because we forget.
Shenandoah Movie Illustration
In the 1965 movie, Shenandoah, Jimmy Stewart plays the father of a Virginia family at the outbreak of the Civil War. He made a promise to his late wife as she passed that their children would be raised as good Christians. So his character, Charlie Anderson dutifully and somewhat begrudgingly took them to church and gathered them for a blessing at every evening meal.
Toward the beginning of the movie there is a scene in which Charlie sits at the dinner table with his six sons, daughter, and daughter-in-law. The table is filled with an abundant meal. He prays a blessing, but his prayer is proud and even spiteful. He is independent, self-reliant, and - seemingly - in full control of his destiny. You can tell his prayer is nothing more than fulfilling his promise to his late wife.
Lord, (he says) we cleared this land. We plowed it, sowed it, and harvested it. We cooked the harvest. It wouldn’t be here, we wouldn’t be eatin’ it if we hadn’t done it all ourselves. We worked dog-bone hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you just the same anyway, Lord, for the food we’re about to eat. Amen.
