Shrove Tuesday Devotional

Fixing our eyes on Jesus...

A few weeks ago, my family went to Wong’s Restaurant in Lanigan, to have lunch with some our our church family. As I walked in, I saw some familiar faces: Willis Jantz, Jim Ewert, and Merv Kline. With a smile on his face, Willis told me that Jim had something he wanted to ask me. The question, “Would you come and share a devotional for Shrove Tuesday?”

In the church I grew up in, we didn’t follow the liturgical calendar as close as many, but we did participate in the weekly Lenten services in our town. As I often sit around a table for ministerial meetings, I hear names of special days that come up: Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursdqy and often learn from other church traditions. This morning, I would like to thank you for giving me an opportunity to share.

For many, the next forty days will be a time to draw near to God. Some will fast. Others will repent of things that they have done, and still others will take this time just to draw near to God.

James 4:8 (NKJV)

8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you...

There is never a better time than the present to draw near to God.

For a farmer, there is a time to seed and a time to harvest. If we neglect to seed, there isn’t a harvest. If we drag our feet and get our crop in late, most often, it makes for a late and often difficult harvest.

Spiritually speaking, today is a good time for us to commit to draw near to God.

Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 12:1

Ecclesiastes 12:1 NIV

1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them”—

Maybe there is somebody here who has never made that commitment to Christ, and you think that you can make that commitment some other time. You might say to yourself, “Today isn’t a good day. Maybe when I get older, I’ll draw near to God. It will just get in the way of what I want to do.”

Here’s the problem with that kind of thinking. We aren’t guaranteed tomorrow. We just have today.

2 Corinthians 6:1–2 NLT

1 As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. 2 For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation.

As we come into this season called “Lent”, I would like to encourage each of us to fix our eyes on Jesus. We can do a lot of good things by denying ourselves, but they will only have so much value if we look at the things we are doing instead of fastening our eyes on our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

When I was learning to drive, if I remember correctly, I had an eye appointment that I was going to. It was harvest time. Mom was sitting in the passenger seat and I was driving. I had my learner’s licence or otherwise stated, my training wheels.

You’ve maybe heard that people drive where they are looking. I was driving past a field where a neighbour was combining. There was a big pile of straw where he had stopped to unload. As I drove past the field, I focused on the pile of straw and the next thing I knew, I was headed into the ditch.

Mom made mention of it. She didn’t whisper. I think I kind of freaked her out as well as myself. I proceeded to pull the car back in the opposite direction. I over corrected and then over corrected the other way. Finally, I had the car under control, and I stopped. As this was all happening, Mom was just praying, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus!”

Needless to say, I was a little bit frazzled. I didn’t want to drive, but Mom told me I had to. It was a good lesson, I needed to keep an eye on the road and not just the field.

Hebrews 12:1–3 NIV

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 11 is known as the Hall of Faith. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses that have already gone on before us. For some of us that might be our parents or Grandparents that loved Jesus and walked by faith. You might be the first in your family, and as you read the Bible, you see names like Noah, Abraham, or David, and you think that you could never be like them. They were humans just like you and me.

We don’t have to be just like them. You don’t have to build an Ark. You don’t have to wait until you are 100 to become a father to a baby boy that he called Isaac. You don’t even have to face a giant to save your nation from slavery, but each of us are called to “run the race that is marked out for us.”

Can I encourage you to run your own race?

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, Peter wanted to know what was going to happen to John. This is what

John 21:22 NIV

22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

Today, Jesus isn’t giving us power to run someone else’s race, He is calling us to run our own race.

When we start our race,

“Let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles.”

As we come into this season of reflection, let’s take time and allow God to look into our hearts and to search us.

Psalm 139:23–24 NLT

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

As we allow the Holy Spirit to search us, if there is something that He finds, let’s throw it off.

You may be carrying something that you need to give to the Lord.

Psalm 55:22 NLT

22 Give your burdens to the Lord, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.

As men, we often feel that we must carry our problems. It would be a sign of weakness if we gave them to God. If we carry our burdens or our sins, it hinders us from running the race that God has called us to.

1 Corinthians 9:24–26 NLT

24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.

When God made us, His purpose was that we would have relationship with HIm, and that we would give Him praise and glory.

How do we run with purpose in every step?

The writer to the Hebrews answers this question in verse two.

Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV)

2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith...

We can run with purpose when we look to Jesus, because He is the author of our salvation. He died on the cross for each of us. He has made the way so that we walk with God.

He also is the finisher, the perfecter of our faith. He not only died, but He rose from the dead, he ascended into Heaven and He is seated in the highest place of honour at the right hand of God the Father.

He knows the way to the Father, and He is the way to the Father.

When we fix our eyes on Jesus, we can see how much He suffered for us. He endured hostility from sinful people.

When we are going through a hard time, look to Jesus. When people are opposed to you, look to Jesus. When you don’t think that you can go on, look to Jesus.

Why should we look to Jesus?

So that we won’t grow weary and lose heart.

If I can leave you with one last encouragement, as you take time to prepare for Good Friday and Easter Sunday, you are not alone, there are many witnesses who have gone before us, there are many here to encourage us as we run this race called life, and finally fix your eyes on Jesus. He knows the way to the Father.

Let’s pray!