2026 Lenten Season - Day 6 - Dying to Live

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
Sharing "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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The empty tomb stands as an eternal promise to you that God will always finish what he has begun in you and for you.

It is important to remember that at the end of Lent stands a tomb. From the moment he was born, Jesus was marching to his death. He had to be willing to suffer and die in order for redemption to be accomplished and applied. Death was his job description. Death was his destiny. But death was not his defeat, because death was not the end of the story of the Messiah Jesus. What looked like the ultimate victory of evil over good, what looked like a crushing defeat and a sad end to the redemptive story, was, in reality, the greatest victory of divine power and grace that the world had ever seen. The Messiah had come. In his perfectly righteous life, he had conquered sin, but that was not enough. The hope of humanity hung on the question of whether or not he had the power to defeat the ultimate enemy, death. The empty tomb was a glorious answer to that question. The empty tomb is a promise that God will never leave his redemptive work half done. He will complete everything that needs to be done for his chosen children to experience the full range of the blessings of his grace.

What I am going to say next may surprise you; it may even discourage you. But I will explain the importance of this surprising statement. At the end of Lent is your death, as well. During this season,  more than any other, we focus on and contemplate the shocking, cruel death of the only perfect person who ever lived. We meditate on his willingness to die, on the essentiality of that death, and on its benefit to all who put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Death is the motif of this season of remembrance. It is the motif not just because of the death of Jesus, but because, during this season, we hear again another call to die. Death is required of every follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Knowing the full range of the benefits of the new life that the resurrection of Jesus promises us requires that we, too, die. In the gospel, we come to understand that death is the inescapable pathway to life. Consider these passages:

Luke 9:23

And [Jesus] said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

Mark 8:35

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. 

John 12:24

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 

Matthew 10:38

And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 

Galatians 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I  now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

Romans 6:1– 4

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that,  just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

1 Peter 2:24

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 

1 Corinthians 15:31

I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! 

Romans 12:1

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice,  holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 

The gospel offers you something that nothing and no one else can offer: life. But in offering life, the gospel calls you to die. That death is both an event and a process. By God’s redeeming plan, we are united with Christ in his death and resurrection. In that way, your moment of belief is a death and a resurrection. But there is more. Now that you are united with Christ, you are called to a very specific surrender, that is, dying to self. You simply cannot understand the gospel without this call to follow Christ in his death. We are called to die to sin.

We are called to die to that life where we did what we wanted to do, when we wanted to do it, and how we wanted to do it. We are called to die to setting our own rules and living however we please. We are called to die to our rulership of our own lives. We are called to let go of our self-appointed sovereignty,

living as if we’re the only master that we need, and to surrender ourselves and all we have to another master. We are called to die to our desires for our own comfort, pleasure, and glory and give ourselves to seek the glory of the King and the success of his kingdom. We are called to die to our own righteousness and find our hope, help, and comfort in the righteousness of Jesus given over to our account. This death that I have just described is a process of daily scanning our lives to see where things still live in us that should not live, then praying for the strength to die once again. Like the death of Jesus, this death is not a defeat, but a huge and glorious victory. 

For everywhere you die, you will be resurrected to new life in that area. It is the continuing resurrection  /transformation/liberation work of sanctifying grace. So this season, how about scanning your heart and life? How about looking for those places where you still need to die to self? How about crying out for the willingness to take up your cross and follow Jesus in his death? How about celebrating the Truth that dying to self is never a defeat, but another step in the ongoing victories of grace that can be yours because you have been united with Jesus in his death and resurrection?

Lent calls you to die, and that is a very good thing!

GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. How do you react to the assertion that “at the end of Lent is your death”? Does that sentence make you feel burdened or relieved—and why?

2. Where have you seen victory come out of death in your own life?

3. What areas of your life need to die to make room for greater, more abundant life in Christ?

Read Romans 12:1–2, and consider what sacrifices God is calling you to make as an act of worship.

Romans 12:1–2 KJV

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

2026 Lenten Season - Day 5

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
We will share "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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Prayer is abandoning my righteousness, admitting my need for forgiveness, and resting in the grace of the cross of Jesus Christ.

Prayer is one of God’s sweetest gifts to us. The command to pray is itself a sweet and loving gift from a gracious and caring heavenly Father. Prayer is where God welcomes his children to talk with him, commune with him, abide with him. It’s that holy place where the deepest of worship, the deepest of needs, and the most honest of confessions all intersect with the grandeur and glory of divine love. Prayer only works when worshipers are invited into the presence of one worthy of their worship. It only works when the one being prayed to is amazingly patient, boundless in love, constantly forgiving, and sovereign in power. For prayer to be prayer, God has to be God; without this, prayer is an act of religious futility.

But God is God, and he has invited us to bring our true selves to him. It’s not an invitation to bring him a catalog of our self-oriented desires, as if he were little more than a cosmic delivery system for whatever cravings consume us at the moment. No, the heart of prayer is worshipful submission to him, which produces gratitude, humility, vision, and willingness in us. Without adoration and submission, prayer is reduced to a set of demands that make it look as if we are gods, and God’s job is to submit his almighty power to our lordship. It is shocking to consider that what appears to be our most conscious Godward act can actually be evidence of our ongoing idolatry.

So prayer is spiritual warfare. To pray, we need rescuing grace that will free us from the dominion of our own selfish hearts. To get our hearts to that counterintuitive place of adoration and submission, we need the help of the one to whom we pray. It’s hard to pray true “Your kingdom come, your will be done” prayers and even harder to pray these kinds of prayers on the fly. It’s counterintuitive to confess that what I need most is not all the things my heart tends to desire. It’s hard to confess that what I need most is redeeming grace. So prayer is a fight. Prayer takes work. Prayer calls us to go to places we don’t often go and give our hearts to do what we do too infrequently.

Of course, you should take ample time to pray every day. Prayer is a powerful weapon in the spiritual war for your heart that wages every day of your life on this side of forever. But it is also good to give yourself to seasons of prayer. Lent could be one of those seasons where you take time to meditate, examine, and consider. Here are four categories that can organize this season of worship for you.

1. Adoration.
Give yourself to meditate on all the reasons the Lord is worthy of your worship. Make time to take in the full grandeur of his majesty, the amazing extent of his love, the unending zeal of his grace, his incalculable power, the completeness of his sovereignty, the extent of his patience, his ever-operating mercy, the depth of his wisdom, and the pristine perfection of his holiness. As a preparation for adoring prayer, study his word again and let your heart be taken up once again with his splendor. Here you let him loom large in your eyes and place the shadow of his glory over your heart. Here you pray his glory back to him in words of praise that you know fall short of capturing his glory even as you pray them. Adoration stimulates the kind of worship that is not just a sacrifice of words, but the offer of your life to this glorious Lord.

2. Confession.
Confession follows adoration, because the more you gaze upon God, the more you will see yourself with accuracy and the more you will mourn what you see. When Isaiah, in his vision, stood before the holiness of the Lord, his first words weren’t, “Wow, this is amazing!” No, his first words were, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5). It takes a vision of God to have a true and reliable vision of ourselves. We are so often blinded by our own righteousness that it takes the unblemished righteousness of God to expose to us the true degree of our own unrighteousness. Prayer doesn’t just include studying our Lord so that we would be overwhelmed by his glory; we also examine ourselves and the many reasons we have to confess our weaknesses, failures, and sin. And confession only works when the one receiving the confession is forgiving and has the power and willingness to rescue and restore. So come in confession, because the cross assures us of our Lord’s willingness to forgive.

3. Submission.
“Not my will, but yours, be done” is the heart of true prayer. Prayer is submitting the desires of your heart to a kingdom greater than your own. Prayer is submitting your requests to a plan that is greater than the one you have for yourself. Prayer is giving yourself to a set of rules you didn’t make up. Prayer is surrendering your gifts to the glory of someone else. Prayer is so much more than asking; at the center is submitting. So we ask for the grace to submit because, as we have already confessed, we do not have the desire, willingness, or power to do so on our own.

4. Supplication.
Finally, prayer is where limited, weak, and failing worshipers bring their needs before the one who is with them, in them, and for them, and who is delighted to meet those needs. Having already submitted ourselves to the mission of his kingship, we now bring before our Lord prayers that are consistent with that heart of submission. And because we have submitted ourselves to plans and purposes that are bigger than us, we don’t pray just for ourselves but also for others. Our supplications are not individual and narrow, but are as wide and as huge as his kingdom is.

How about giving yourself to forty days of this kind of prayer, with all the study and meditation it requires? And know that as you do, God is tender, gracious, and understanding. He receives our messy prayers. He hears those brief prayers on the fly. He doesn’t reject prayers that reflect inaccurate theology or those prayed in moments when we really don’t know how to pray. Weak, faltering prayers are received by him and warmly answered. But he invites us into something deeper and better. He invites us into something that we could never earn or deserve on our own. He invites us into willing, adoring, restful communion with him.

Why wouldn’t you accept that invitation?

GOING DEEPER
Reflection Questions

1. Does your typical pattern of prayer reflect the reality that “the heart of prayer is worshipful submission” to God? How might your prayers change if you really embraced this definition of prayer?

2. How well do your prayers balance the four categories of prayer: adoration, confession, submission, and supplication? Which area do you tend to shortchange, and what are some practical things you can do to grow in that area?

3. True spiritual warfare-type prayers require study and meditation. What can you do in this Lenten season to give yourself more fully to these tasks?

Pray slowly through the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9–13, focusing on adoration, confession, submission, and supplication.

Matthew 6:9–13 New King James Version

9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

2026 Lenten Season - Day 4

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
We will share "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.

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God intends suffering to pry open our hands so we let go of the things of this earth and hold more tightly to Jesus. 

What has you in its hold? Don’t rush to answer. Stop and give this question some consideration. What do you feel you can’t live without? What has the ability to make or break your day? What has the power to make you very sad? What can produce almost instant happiness? The loss of what would leave you a bit depressed? What do you tend to attach your identity to? What tends to control your wishes? What do others have that causes you to envy? If you could get just one thing, what would it be? The absence of what tempts you to question God’s goodness? What does your use of money tell you about what’s important to you? What fills your fantasies and your dreams? What would the videos of your last six weeks reveal about what has you in its hold? What physical idols tempt you most? What relational idols attract you the most? Is there a place where you’re asking the creation to do what only the Creator can?

Lent is an important tool in the inescapable battle that rages in all our hearts between worship and service of the Creator and worship and service of the creation. Lent calls us to remember once again that sin reduces us all to idolaters somehow, someway. It gives us a season to take time and reflect on things that have taken too strong a hold on us, things that we have come to crave too strongly and love too dearly. It reminds us that often things that we are holding tightly have actually taken an even tighter hold on us.

Here’s the core of the struggle: as long as sin still resides in our hearts, we will have an inclination to ask the physical creation to do for us what the Creator alone is able to do. Everyone is in search of true and lasting joy. Everyone wants peace of heart. Everyone wants to be content. Everyone is searching for life. Everyone wants to be deeply, fully, and perfectly loved. Everyone wants a heart that is satisfied. So everyone is on a quest to find these things even when they don’t know they are. Everyone looks for identity. Everyone searches for something that will give them meaning and purpose. Everyone searches for something to hook their hope to. In this way, everyone is born searching for God. They just don’t know it.

Because creation is so obvious (you can see it, you can taste it, you can feel it, and you can smell it), it’s tempting to look to it to deliver all the things for which we are all searching. But satisfaction of our hearts is not the purpose of the physical creation; it actually has a much higher purpose. Creation was made to point us to the one who alone has the power to satisfy our longing hearts. He is the bread that will satisfy our hunger. He is the living water that makes us thirst no longer. With every vista, on every day, with every new experience and each new look, creation has been designed to point us to God.

But there’s even more to think about here. Looking to creation to do what it was not meant to do will not only disappoint us; it will enslave us. Idols never just disappoint us; they addict us as well. Because the buzz of joy that creation gives us is so short, we have to go back again and again, and soon we’re convinced we cannot live without the next hit. What we tightly hold onto takes hold of us, now commanding of us what only God should ever command: our hearts. And what holds our hearts will dictate our words and behavior.

It is possible to think that you are a God-worshiper because he is the object of your formal religious worship, but when it comes to the day-by-day affections of your heart, something or someone else could be in control. And it’s not always that we are under the control of evil things. Often good things have control over us that they should not have. As I have written elsewhere, good things become bad things when they become ruling things.

So how about letting yourself suffer loss for a season? Let go of things you tend to prize. Let this season of sacrifice loosen your hands and free your heart. Let go of some of your comforts, things that have perhaps comforted you too much, so that your heart is free to seek a better Comforter. Pray that a season of going without will refocus your eyes and reposition your heart. God is good at using seasons of suffering to cause us to let go of our dependency on created things and reach out in dependency to our Creator, Savior, and Lord. 

May this season’s discomforts lead us to find lasting comfort in him.

GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. Spend some time meditating on and perhaps journaling about the diagnostic questions from the devotional. Based on that exercise, what are some idols you are tempted to bow down to?

2. What things do you ask the physical creation to do that only God can do? If you’re stumped, take a look at where you seek pleasure and what causes conflict in your closest relationships.

3. Now you are ready to answer the real question: What do you need to give up, for a season or more permanently, to root the idols out of your heart?

Read Luke 9:23–25 and Romans 6:1–14, and prayerfully consider what you might give up during this season of Lent as a way to find your comfort in Christ. 

Luke 9:23–25

Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. 24 If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 25 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?

Romans 6:1–14

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
12 Do not let sin control the way you live;[a] do not give in to sinful desires. 13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

2026 Lenten Season - Day 3 To Groan or Not to Groan

We continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
We will share "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.
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Keep reminding yourself that you live in a world that is groaning, waiting for redemption, but remind yourself also that the cross guarantees that the groaning will someday end.

Permit yourself to groan; you have valid reasons to do so. Give yourself to seasons of groaning; it is spiritually healthy to do so. And as you groan, remember that your Lord hears your groaning and responds with tender loving care. However, it is important to note that most of our groaning is not only spiritually unhealthy; it is spiritually debilitating. We most often groan because we have not gotten our own way or because something or someone has gotten in our way. Often our groaning is little more than verbal pouting. It is a symptom of our continuing desire to be sovereign so as to guarantee that we will get the pleasures, treasures, and comforts that we have set our hearts on. Sadly, so much of our groaning is self-oriented frustration that ends up making us despondent, discouraged, and a bit bitter.

But we have reason to groan because we live in a world that is breaking under the harsh burden of the destructiveness of sin. Every day we are greeted by corporate sin, cultural sin, institutional sin, and individual sin. Sin never has a good harvest. Sin always deceives, divides, and destroys. It always promises what it can’t deliver and delivers things that were not part of the bargain. Sin masquerades as something it is not and can never be. It is the ultimate wolf in sheep’s clothing. It has left both humanity and the surrounding creation broken and crippled.

Think about when we typically groan. We groan when we’re disappointed. We groan when we’re grieving. We groan when we’re in pain. We groan when we’re frustrated. We groan when we feel weak. We groan when we’re exhausted. We groan when things are not the way they are supposed to be. It’s right to groan for the right reason. It’s right to be sad at what sin has done to you and everything around you. It’s good to be frustrated when you’ve allowed yourself once again to be hoodwinked by sin. It’s good to groan at how sin makes marriage difficult and parenting a travail. It’s good to mourn the effect of sin on the church and the workplace, on education and government. It’s good to groan when the spiritual battle has left you tired and wounded. It’s right to groan when you see loved ones trapped in sin’s deceit.

Here’s what is important to understand: your groaning is either anger that you’ve not gotten your way or a cry that God would get his holy, loving, wise, and righteous way. Groaning is either, “Will my kingdom ever come?” or it is, “Your kingdom come.” It is good to stop and examine your groaning and to give yourself to a season of the right kind of groaning. After all, you do live in a groaning place. Paul says it this way in Romans 8:22: “For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in pains of childbirth until now.”

But it’s tempting to avoid groaning, to keep yourself too busy or too distracted to be able to think about your struggle with sin and the brokenness of the world around you. It’s tempting to try to convince yourself that you are okay and the things around you are not that bad. It’s tempting to numb your heart with the physical pleasures of this fallen world. It’s tempting to put on a happy face when you’re not really happy or happy with how you’re doing. It’s tempting to give non-answers or evasive answers when someone asks you how you’re doing. It’s tempting to try to convince yourself to feel good about things that are not good. It’s tempting to work at not groaning.

So, it takes grace to groan over sin internal and external. It’s counterintuitive to do so. At the point of sinning, sin doesn’t look horrible; it looks attractive. When you’re lusting, you don’t see danger; you see beauty. When you’re gossiping, you don’t think about its destructiveness, because you’re carried away by the buzz of carrying a tale. When you are overeating, you don’t see the sin in what you’re doing, because you are enjoying the pleasure of the sights and tastes of the food. When you’re cheating on your taxes, you don’t think about the danger of a heart that has become comfortable with thievery, because you’re caught up into thinking about how you will spend the money gained. Part of the deceitfulness of sin is its ability to make what is destructive appear attractive.

When you are groaning sin’s destruction, you are groaning because you’ve been blessed with eyes that see clearly, a mind that thinks wisely, and a heart that has been made tender by grace. The problem is not that we groan, but that we groan selfishly or we do not groan at all. Grace will make you groan and then will turn your groaning into rejoicing. In your groaning, you rejoice because you know that God meets you in your groaning.

The apostle Paul says that God hears and answers even when we are without words with which to groan (Romans 8:, And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.) You see, we are not just groaning into the air as some cathartic exercise. No, we groan to someone who has invited us to groan and has promised to hear and to answer. We groan to one who is in us, with us, and for us, who has blessed us with life-altering promises and who will not quit working on our behalf until we have no more reason to groan. We groan to one who has already won the victory over everything for which we groan and who will not rest until all his children are experiencing all the fruits of that victory. In this way our groaning is not selfish anger, but a cry for help to the only one who has the power, authority, wisdom, and grace to come to our aid and give us what we really need. And in our groaning, we confess that too often we groan for the wrong reason.

So, stop and groan. Let your heart feel the burden of the full weight of sin, both internal and external. Scan your life, scan your heart, scan your thoughts and desires, scan your words and behavior, scan the struggles of the people around you, scan the world you live in, and find reason to groan. Let sin’s sadness drive you once again to the cross where your Savior groaned aloud on your behalf as he bore the horrible weight of sin. Take time to let sadness sink in so it may lead you to redemption’s celebration, as you remember that the debt has been paid and the ultimate victory over what makes you groan has been guaranteed.

Yes, indeed, it is good to groan.

GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. Thinking of both the subject of your groaning and its effects, how can you tell whether your groaning is spiritually healthy or spiritually unhealthy?

2. In what ways do you find it challenging to engage with spiritual lament?

3. How could you more effectively groan over your sin, and what spiritual benefits might that offer?

Read Psalm 74, and then use it as a catalyst for writing your own song of lament. Include both private and corporate confession and need.

Psalm 74 NLT   A psalm of Asaph.

¹ O God, why have you rejected us so long? Why is your anger so intense against the sheep of your own pasture? ² Remember that we are the people you chose long ago, the tribe you redeemed as your own special possession! And remember Jerusalem, your home here on earth. ³ Walk through the awful ruins of the city; see how the enemy has destroyed your sanctuary. ⁴ There your enemies shouted their victorious battle cries; there they set up their battle standards. ⁵ They swung their axes like woodcutters in a forest. ⁶ With axes and picks, they smashed the carved paneling. ⁷ They burned your sanctuary to the ground. They defiled the place that bears your name. ⁸ Then they thought, “Let’s destroy everything!” So they burned down all the places where God was worshiped. ⁹ We no longer see your miraculous signs. All the prophets are gone, and no one can tell us when it will end. ¹⁰ How long, O God, will you allow our enemies to insult you? Will you let them dishonor your name forever? ¹¹ Why do you hold back your strong right hand? Unleash your powerful fist and destroy them. ¹² You, O God, are my king from ages past, bringing salvation to the earth. ¹³ You split the sea by your strength and smashed the heads of the sea monsters. ¹⁴ You crushed the heads of Leviathan and let the desert animals eat him. ¹⁵ You caused the springs and streams to gush forth, and you dried up rivers that never run dry. ¹⁶ Both day and night belong to you; you made the starlight and the sun. ¹⁷ You set the boundaries of the earth, and you made both summer and winter.¹⁸ See how these enemies insult you, Lord. A foolish nation has dishonored your name. ¹⁹ Don’t let these wild beasts destroy your turtledoves. Don’t forget your suffering people forever.  ²⁰ Remember your covenant promises, for the land is full of darkness and violence! ²¹ Don’t let the downtrodden be humiliated again. Instead, let the poor and needy praise your name. ²² Arise, O God, and defend your cause. Remember how these fools insult you all day long. ²³ Don’t overlook what your enemies have said or their growing uproar.

2026 Lenten Season - Day 2

This year, we continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).

We will share "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp. 

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When the shadow of the cross hangs over us, we are not surprised by sin, and we are not afraid to look at what has already been forgiven.

My sin seemed to sneak up on me again, like a stalker jumping out from behind the bushes. I was unprepared, but why? I was surprised, but shouldn’t have been. The instant change in my thinking, desires, and emotions was shocking. I got angry in a situation where my anger was unexpected. Instead of wanting to serve, I suddenly wanted to win, to be affirmed as right. My voice got louder, my tone got sharper, and my face reddened. My ability to communicate turned from a tool of help to a weapon of offense. I said unkind things and other things in an unkind way. At that moment, I was a self-appointed king, the universe shrunk to the size of my desires, and all I wanted was for my will to be done. And as I was sinning, I was already erecting self-atoning arguments that would make my sin acceptable to my conscience. But it wasn’t long before remorse came, and by God’s grace, confession followed.

Open your heart to what I am about to say next. My story is your story too. Whether you’re standing in your teenager’s bedroom, sitting with your computer on your lap, plodding through work, or rushing through the grocery store, sin creeps up on you and seizes you. Before you know it, you’re in its hold. Later you look back with regret. You tell yourself that you’ll do better next time, only to get kidnapped again a little further down the road. This is the sadly repeating drama of all of us living between the “already” and the “not yet.”

This is why it is important to dedicate a season of every year to sit under the shadow of the cross of Jesus Christ once again. Under the shadow of the cross, sin doesn’t surprise us anymore, doesn’t depress us anymore, and doesn’t move us to deny or defend. Under the shadow of the cross, we remember who we are and what it is that we are dealing with. Under the shadow of the cross, we are required to admit that the greatest enemy we face is not difficulty or maltreatment from without, but the enemy of sin within. Under the shadow of the cross, we quit pointing fingers and begin crying out for help. Under the shadow of the cross, we are reminded that we are not in this battle alone; in fact, there we admit that we have no power whatsoever to battle on our own. Under the shadow of the cross, we get our sanity back, admitting who we are and what it is that we so desperately need. The shadow of the cross is a place of peace and protection that can be found nowhere else. Let the shadow of the cross be your teacher.

1. The shadow of the cross teaches us who we are.

We all need to stop again and again and let the cross remind us of who we are, and in reminding us, to humble us anew. We do tend to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. Here’s what happens to many of us. When we first come to Christ, we are very aware of our sin, and therefore we carry with us a constant desire for

God’s help. But as saving grace gets our lives into order and we are following, fellowshipping, and obeying, we begin to let go of that sense of need. We begin to think of ourselves as okay—and in one sense we are, because our salvation is sealed once and for all. On the other hand, as long as sin still lurks inside us, we are not okay and are still in constant need of redeeming grace. Sitting under the shadow of the cross shatters the delusion that we are free of the need of what originally brought us to Jesus: divine grace.

2. The shadow of the cross teaches what we need.

The cross powerfully reminds me that I need much more than situational, relational, financial, or physical change. The cross is the ultimate diagnostic. It accurately puts its finger on the ultimate disease, and then offers the only reliable cure. Accurate diagnosis is always necessary for there to be a real, lasting cure. Bad diagnosis will prevent cure from happening. Your inner lawyer, your friends, and your culture may tell you that your biggest problem is not you, and they may tell you that all you need to do is move, quit, find new friends, get a new job, or make more money; but each one of those is a misdiagnosis. These things will not treat the disease that has you in its grip. Only grace can do that. The cross preaches that sin is our problem and that rescuing, forgiving, transforming, and delivering grace is the only medicine that will provide the cure we all need.

3. The shadow of the cross teaches us who God is.

The cross tells us that God is unrelentingly merciful. It is amazing to think that he would control all the things that he needed to control so that Jesus would arrive on that awful cross as an acceptable sacrifice for our redemption! The cross preaches God’s saving zeal, his boundless love, and his willingness to unleash his almighty power and unlimited sovereignty to draw rebels to himself. The cross teaches us that God doesn’t look at sinners with disdain or disgust, but with generous and tender love. The cross teaches us that we do not have to clean ourselves up to come to God; we only need to come in humble confession. The cross teaches us that when we sin, God doesn’t greet us with a sentence of condemnation, but with a reminder once again of the completeness of his pardon. The cross allows unholy people to look in the face of a holy God and have hope.

4. The shadow of the cross teaches us what God offers us.

The cross teaches us that God offers us the one thing that no other person or thing can. He offers us the grace of forgiveness. He offers us the grace of welcome into relationship with him. He offers us the grace of personal transformation. He offers us the grace of a new identity and new potential. He offers us the grace of a glorious and fully secured destiny. Yes, it is true, he offers us grace upon grace!

5. The shadow of the cross teaches us how we should live.

The cross teaches us that we should live humbly wise. It’s foolish and prideful to be unprepared for the battle with sin. Unpreparedness denies all that the cross teaches us about who we are and what we need. The cross teaches us that we need to pray for eyes to see and hearts that are attentive to the enemy’s temptations and sin’s lies. The cross teaches us to be humbly ready and to start every day with cries for divine rescue and strength.

6. The shadow of the cross gives us hope and courage.

The cross teaches us to be unafraid to admit and confess sin, not because we are powerful or capable, but because Jesus is the victor, and there is nothing that we will ever face inside or outside us that exists outside the circle of the completed victory of the cross. I can face my sin without depression or panic because he battled for me and won and continues to do so. It really is a good thing to sit under the shadow of the cross for a season, to consider, confess, and rest once again.

GOING DEEPER

Reflection Questions

1. What do you think it means to live under the shadow of the cross? What are some practical ways to get there?

2. Do you agree that your greatest problem is your sin? What attitudes or actions in your life suggest that maybe you don’t truly believe that?

3. Think of some of the things you need right now, either materially or spiritually. How might placing yourself in the shadow of the cross inform or enhance your perspective on those needs?

Read Psalm 130, and note what the psalmist says about who we are and who God is. Use this psalm to guide your prayer time today.

Psalm 130 New Living Translation

 A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.

 ¹ From the depths of despair, O Lord, I call for your help. ² Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer. ³ Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? ⁴ But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you.  ⁵ I am counting on the Lord;  yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word. ⁶ I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn. ⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows. ⁸ He himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin.

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In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

2026 Lenten Season Begins - Day 1

This year, we will continue the tradition of 40 days of Lent-related devotionals (46 counting the Sundays).
We will share "Journey to the Cross" by Paul David Tripp.

DAY 1

God is holy, so sin is serious. God is gracious, so sin can be forgiven. On the cross his holiness and grace kiss. Of all the events in my life, one is by far the most important. Of all the blessings in my life, one is without a doubt the most wonderful blessing of all. Of all the things I most needed, but could never provide for myself, this was my deepest need. 

One summer, my mom and dad decided to empty their house of their four children. I ended up with my younger brother at a children’s camp in the middle of nowhere in northern Pennsylvania. It was a long way away for a long time for a nine-year-old boy. I remember dragging a heavy wooden locker that my dad had made up the long hill to my cabin. I was bunked in with a rowdy pack of eight- and nine-year-olds, whose faces would change at the beginning of each week. I can remember being a bit upset that I had been assigned to the oldest male camp counselor on the staff. He didn’t look athletic, and he was a bit bald, so he looked ancient to me. I just knew he would be boring and strict and that I would be stuck 
with him that long hot summer. What I didn’t know was that God was going to use that man to give me two wonderful gifts, gifts that we all need, whether we know it or not. That summer turned out to be the most significant, life-altering, and eternally important of my life.

I was being raised in an imperfect Christian home, and I carried with me a God-awareness from day one. My family attended church whenever the doors were opened and had family worship every morning. I knew every biblical story and could quote many key passages from memory, including the entire Christmas story as told in Luke 2. But the one thing I lacked was the knowledge of my own sin. I was the quintessential Christian-culture kid who was not a Christian. My problem was that I had no knowledge of the difference, and because I didn’t, I had no sense of personal spiritual need. But at camp that would change dramatically and forever.

My old bald counselor decided that before our bedtime devotions each week, he would teach his fidgety pack of nine-year-olds the first several chapters of Romans. So, I got Romans 1–5 over and over again that summer. God knew what I needed and put me right where I would get it. One particular night, the words of Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” cut like a knife into my heart. But I fought the conviction that gripped me and tried my best to hide the emotion that 
accompanied it. I climbed into my third-tier bunk, but couldn’t sleep, so I began to do what no nine-year-old boy ever wants to do in bed at camp: I began to cry. And I could not stop crying. I had been 
given an unexpected and undeserved gift, the knowledge of my sin. At nine years old, it gripped me, scared me, and would not let me go. I lay there crying and knew I needed to pray. Why? Because I had been given another gift: the knowledge of a ready, willing, and capable Savior. I had been blessed with the awareness of his offer of forgiveness to all who confess their sin and by faith seek his forgiveness.

In my tears, I had no idea how blessed I was. I had no idea of the horrible deceitfulness of sin. I had no idea of the natural self-righteousness that is in the heart of every sinner. I had no idea that most people have no idea how dark their condition actually is. I had no idea how skilled we sinners are at giving self-atoning arguments for what we have said and done, in an attempt to remove any real guilt for sin. I had no idea that I had been chosen and was being called to no longer be a cultural Christian, but a true child of God. I had no idea that the only thing in life more important than the knowledge of sin is the knowledge of the Savior’s grace. And I had been given both. I had no idea that I had to experience the terrifying knowledge of sin, or I would never seek the Savior’s forgiving grace.

What I did know was that I needed to pray. I needed to confess my sin and cry out for God’s forgiveness. And I knew I needed to do it right there and then. But in my nine-year-old mind, I thought it was disrespectful to pray such a significant prayer lying down. So I crawled out of my bunk and down the ladder as quietly as I could. I knelt in the middle of the stone floor and confessed my sin and placed my little-boy trust in the forgiving grace of the Savior. Then I quietly climbed back up to my bunk and fell fast asleep.

The Lenten season is about the sin that was the reason for the suffering and sacrifice of the Savior. It is about taking time to reflect on why we all needed such a radical move of redemption, to confess the hold that sin still has on us, and to focus on opening our hands, in confession and submission, and letting go of sin once again. But as we do this, it is important to remember that the knowledge of sin is not a dark and nasty thing but a huge and wonderful blessing. If you are aware of your sin, you are aware of it only because you have been visited by amazing grace. Don’t resist that awareness.

Silence your inner lawyer and all the self-defending arguments for your righteousness. Quit relieving your guilt by pointing a finger of blame at someone else. And stop telling yourself in the middle of a sermon that you know someone who really needs to hear it. Be thankful that you have been chosen to bear the burden of the knowledge of sin, because that burden is what drove you and will continue to drive you to seek the help and rescue that only the Savior Jesus can give you. To see sin clearly is a sure sign of God’s grace. Be thankful.

GOING DEEPER
Reflection Questions

1. In a typical week, how aware are you of the depth of your sin? When was the last time you wept over your sin?

2. Do you usually view the conviction of the Spirit as a blessing to be pursued or a burden to be avoided? Why?

3. What habits and disciplines help you foster an inner spirit of confession and repentance?

Read and meditate on Psalm 51:1–12, using it as a template for a time of confession.

Psalm 51:1-12 New Living Translation

For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time Nathan the prophet came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.

1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins.
2 Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.
3 For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night.
4 Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.
5 For I was born a sinner - yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.
6 But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there.
7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me - now let me rejoice.
9 Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.
11 Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.

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In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Promise for Today - Where to?

Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.

Psalm 25:4-5 NLT

Yesterday, I had to make a trip into downtown Houston. I hate driving down there, and it's worse now with construction on every road in Midtown. I used Waze, my trusted GPS, but thank God I had a friend with me who went to court reporting school in that area when she was younger; otherwise, I might still be caught in the surfeit of detours, opposite directional arrows, and road-closed signs. 

When my youngest granddaughter was little, we used to make up songs on how to get somewhere by singing about all the landmarks along the way. All the while, teaching her how to get to my house and back to hers.  It's important to know the way home.

Tonight, I felt like the Lord was reminding me that we're on our way to His house. Our heavenly home. Do we know the right way? Are we following His landmarks? Are we making sure to not lose our way?!?

God gives us His promise a few verses further down in Psalm 25:8-10. From The Message - "God is fair and just; He corrects the misdirected, Sends them in the right direction. He gives the rejects his hand, And leads them step-by-step. From now on every road you travel will take you to God. Follow the Covenant signs; Read the charted directions."

We're on our way to His house. Are we going the right way?

Prayer:

Father,
            Show us the right path, O Lord; point out the road for us to follow. We want to be with You in Your house. Correct us and lead us in the paths of Your righteousness. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen