Revived Lifestyle
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A few days ago we celebrated Easter. It was a day to celebrate Christ’s journey. To celebrate the new life filled with grace and truth that we can receive in Him. To live in the miracle of His resurrection. Leading up to Easter, many people enter the season of lent, either giving up something, or adding something new to their routine. Lent lasts for forty days. But why do we just take this time to focus on these things the forty days leading up to Easter. Why aren’t we continually doing an assessment of ourselves and our lives that we are always looking for ways we can grow and change. I don’t want to just live in a season of lent. I want to live a lifestyle of continual growth. I want to take what has been learned in lent or some season of growth and incorporate it into my normal life. Not just change things for a season.
I saw Cinderella this past weekend. (It is a great movie by the way) But Cinderella lived by the motto “Have courage and be kind.” That one simple statement impacted and changed her whole life. Her thoughts, actions, relationships, all came down to that one thing. What if we lived our lives this way. What if we had one motto that could impact everything. What would yours be? I think for me, I would want to Live Abundantly. I want to love abundantly, laugh abundantly, enjoy abundantly, and experience life to the fullest. And not just to live this one day but to live it every day.
To revive oneself is to “regain life, consciousness, or strength.” It is to “restore to life or consciousness and to give new strength or energy to.” I want to live a life of revival. Of course there are seasons where change will be occuring and will be evident. But I don’t want to just add things for lent or for certain seasons that will eventually fall away. I want to live changed. I want to live aware of the process, but keep my eyes set on things above. At my church, we talk about the ongoing spiritual transformation that everyone is undergoing. It is a process. But we are all in process to becoming more like Jesus and being transformed in His love. So I want to be proactive with certain things, in certain seasons. But I don’t want to make those changes just for lent, or just for new years resolutions. I want to live changed. I want to experience life abundant.
Here is a great website with some really good devotionals, and also the book to go along with! Desiring God Website
Did you celebrate lent? Can you incorporate that practice into your life to live a changed and transformed life?
