The Beginning of Lent

Today is Ash Wednesday.

On the church calendar, this marks the beginning of Lent.  A season to prepare our hearts for the coming remembrance of the death of Christ, and the celebration of His resurrection.  For some it can be time to give up certain things - perhaps to join in the suffering of Christ by sacrificing some habit or item that we hold perhaps, a little too closely. 

Chocolate
Certain TV shows
Certain language
Soft drinks
Red meat

You get the idea.

Are these really sacrifices?  Or are they ways we make ourselves feel like we are contributing something, you know, "doing our part" to remember...

Jesus knew what was coming.  He went in to Jerusalem the week before His death, knowing the pain, suffering and sacrifice He would endure.  And He still went. 

For us.

To pay a debt we could not pay.

To conquer something we could not even begin to fight.

“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it."
Acts 2:21-24