Sunday Devotion

Welcome to the Sunday Devotion.  It is sobering to realize that we are now in the season of Lent. It seems that time moves on sometimes without notice. But time is a precious gift from God and we must use that gift and give time back to God. We have entered these 40 days that call us to fast and pray and repent as we walk with Jesus. It’s a time to slow down, reflect, and live with intentionality that focuses on God. So let’s do that now. Let’s take a deep breath, clear our minds, and spend some time with God.

Each year, we are reminded to enter the Lenten season with a focus on the sacrifice that Jesus faced. Many people do this by giving up something, usually a food like chocolate or dessert. If we follow that choice, we face this sacrifice as a daily reminder of Jesus’ sacrifice as his journey took him closer to the cross.  If you were to give up something, what would it be?

Others look to add something instead of taking something away. It might be a commitment to daily prayer or some other spiritual practice, such as journaling or meditation. It might be new involvement in volunteering a service to others. What could you add?

Whatever the decision, the action should remind us of God and provide us a new moment of time with God. Today’s challenge is to find an action or inaction that reminds you to turn your mind and your heart to God. As part of this challenge to spend time with God, I’ve passed out 2-minute timers of sand to the children in our congregation and tasked them to use the timer to help them focus on spending time with God. Start the timer and focus on God and Jesus. How much time passed by? Did the sand fall all the way to the bottom of the timer? We all need to look at how much time we spend with God in our thoughts, in study, or in conversation.  I wonder how we’d all do with a 2-minute timer.

Dear God – our Giver and Forgiver, we thank you for the blessings of life. As we course through our day, may we set our mind on you in thankfulness and repentance. Forgive us those times we get so caught up in the trivial. Help us focus on you and hold you in our hearts. May we walk this journey to the cross with Jesus, ever aware of the sacrifice that was made in love. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen

Author: Bonnie Barber