“We Don’t Need God.”
Welcome to Lent 2025.
Adam and Eve handed off the baton and here we are. It’s 2025 and we still need Ash Wednesday.
“I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, pleasure, power, and influence. Help me to become deaf to these voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life.”
"We don't need God."
That's how it all came crashing down. The serpent tempted Adam and Eve with one question, "Did God really say?"
They were hooked.
The enemy went on to lie, "For God knows that when you eat from the fruit, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good from evil."
It was at this decision point that the human race inherited the bloodline of pride and self-sufficiency. And we haven't stopped believing the lie. Every day we eat the fruit.
Ash Wednesday is the necessary prelude to the glory of the Gospel. This day is defined as a day of repentance. Sincere worship requires it.
"I am sorry for giving in daily to the temptation to believe I am the one in control, that I am my own source of truth and strength."
It's a difficult thing for us to embrace while living in the fireworks of the American Spirit. We don't value surrender or limitation in our culture. We certainly don't consider weakness a means of strength. But for the followers of Jesus, we must first acknowledge we are lost before we call out to be found.
And so, in our realistic state, selfish and unmoored, Ash Wednesday says, "Come home, be restored to your Maker."
Ash Wednesday is meant to call us to sit at the feet of Jesus, as Mary did, and receive his presence, his goodness, and his love.
On a day like today, we must dismantle the lie we have been told (and likely have told those behind us), "You can be whatever you want. The sky is your only limit. You've got this." After living for a few years, it becomes clear: that shallow sentiment will blow away with the wind. Our paths are unpredictable, and we are utterly dependent on our Maker.
From the dust, and to the dust--limited, and without hope apart from God.
As humans, we don't have what we need in and of ourselves. We are frail and weak; we are sinful and rebellious. Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent. During this season on the church calendar, we are meant to acknowledge and contemplate the death and suffering of Jesus on our behalf. Equally, we must face our own sufferings and wrongs. We must cease striving and instead humbly seek the Lord's mercy.
We are dark with death, we are mournful with suffering, and we are fraught with pride. But look to the horizon, my friends; you WILL see the dawn. And though the night is long, joy comes in the morning.
“I do not know you God because I am in the way. Please help me to push myself aside.”