Check out my Ash…

Posted by GregQualls

February 8, 2008

This past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday for most is the first day of the Lent season (more on Lent in a post tomorrow). For the first time I participated in the imposing of ashes. If you don’t know what this is, in the simplest of terms someone makes a cross on your forehead with ashes.

While it is just ashes on your forehead, this act touched me at the deepest level. You see the ashes are a symbol of repentance. In the Old Testament times people would cover themselves with ash as a sign of repenting of their sins. It was a symbol of their mortality before God. There was the fact that their sin brings death into their lives.

A common verse used when they put the ashes on your head is Genesis 3:19. “Remember, O man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.” I’m very good at passing over the sins in my life. It was a wonderful time to stop and confess my short comings before God. To be reminded of my mortality and need for a savior. My need for the Savior.

I know it’s to late to participate in Ash Wednesday, but it is never to late to confess your sins to God. When was the last time that you stopped and realized your place before God? I think this is an essencial discipline for the Christian to stop before God and realize how much we suck. This is the essence of Christianity.

If we don’t realize how much we suck, there is no need for Jesus. Jesus just becomes this bobble head on the dash of our car, this cool figurine in our lives that has no real purpose. We need to stop daily and realize our need for Jesus, and Ash Wednesday for me was a great time that I was able to do just that with my church family.

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