Reform Your Lives
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Rev. Scott D. Fobare - Pastor -
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Sunday, March 7, 2010
Who of us has never heard a call to change our lives? We are constantly challenged in the gospel to change – to reform our lives. It is never an easy task – to change our lives. It takes a great deal of work on our part. But it is something that can be done. The season of Lent is about change. The season of Lent is about reform. We spend these forty days looking at ways to deepen our relationship with God. For many of us this call will result in making changes in our lives. In spending these forty days in prayer we will see clearly the areas of our lives that we must change or reform.
Jesus throughout his public ministry will call many to change their lives. We see this clearly in the gospels. The message that Jesus preached thousands of years ago is a message that we acknowledge even today. The issue of reform was very important to Jesus. To those who would profess themselves as Christian, Jesus expected them to live by the ways of God. He expects that of you and me. In doing so, Jesus gives us the commandments to evaluate our lives by. They are just not words but actions to live by. So in these holy and sacred days of Lent we look at how we need to reform our lives.
When we begin working on planting a garden we first till the soil - we cultivate it and prepare it for planting. By tilling the soil we turn over the bad soil, mixing it with the good soil. I can remember as a child my father taking the tiller to the area where he would plant a garden. The rich soil under the top is brought up and mixed with the old soil. Lent is a time for us to dig into our own lives to seek what we need to turn over or cultivate so that we might be more fruitful in God’s eyes.
This challenge of reform is a daily task. Daily we are being called, you and I, his daughters and sons. Yet for many this challenge goes unheeded. We sometimes resist the call to change because it is just too difficult a task to undertake or maybe because we simply reject the call all together, thinking that there is nothing wrong with how I live my life. We can easily be swayed into thinking that there is nothing in my life that needs changing. Sometimes we might put off to tomorrow what we need to do today. We may easily see and recognize what it is that I need to change, but feel that it might be something we can work on tomorrow. The sad thing is that for many of us tomorrow never comes. Jesus would tell us that there is no time but the present. This is the hour – this is the moment. This is the invitation now. We must see that we are living in the presence of God at this moment. The call is now – not tomorrow.
Just like that garden where the soil has been tilled for planting. We must take a hoe and weed out the weeds and harmful things that would hinder our garden from growing. To get the soil properly ready for having a fruitful harvest lots of work needs to happen. We have to not only till the soil but we need to fertilize it. We need to nurture the rich soil to make it even richer. Yes, weeds will grow, regardless of how rich the soil is. The work of hoeing out the weeds will be a daily task. They can be treated and eliminated so our crop may have a bountiful harvest.
Another important part in our season of Lent is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. By being forgiven of our sinfulness we are privileged to have another try to living the way God asks us to live. The sacrament gives us healing and strength to try again. What about you? When was the last time you sought out God’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation?
In these sacred days of Lent take some time at looking how God is calling you to reform your life? How is God calling you to a richer and more fruitful way of living? How can you do better? What do you need to do to reform? Let your prayer this week be “God, show me what I need to change and the grace to change it, so I can be a better son/daughter.”
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