Climbing a hillside 12) B4 Rebuke at Lent

During Lent we can consciously spend time on this Beatitudes's learning curve ... recognizing where we are spiritually parched and empty.  When I lived in South London we belonged to a small Baptist church. We met in the church hall because the main building was in disrepair.  On this particular Sunday an older man, whom I didn't know, was sitting on the chair next to me. The service had seemed routine to me (largely leaving me in my own thoughts!) so I was startled when after it was over he turned to me and asked: 'How's your walk with Jesus?'  Oh, how that took me to the essentials - how close was my relationship?  How satisfied I was in my life?  How was my appetite for God and his righteousness?  As is clear, I have never forgotten the shock and importance of that question.

It's an appropriate rebuke for this period leading up to Easter which many in the world church mark as a time of making fresh commitment in walking with Jesus to the Cross.  Traditionally it's a time of renewed prayer, fasting and almsgiving. But that doesn't come easily to most of us. Motivation is difficult. Desire doesn't just happen. Recently I read a challenge: 

Prayer cannot work without desire and desire cannot grow without meditation on God. You have to spend time with God for the Spirit to kindle desire within us. "As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you" (Ps, 42:1,2) God cannot be grasped in hasty glances or by feverish clutches but by a process which God himself maintains God quietly reveals himself to those who wait on him. (From R. F Horton: The Open Secret).

Many in my local church have committed themselves to spent more time with God as we approach Easter. Some of us are using The Little Book of Lent to guide daily meditation and prayer.  What an opportunity God is giving us afresh. How is your walk with Jesus?