Lent Devotional

My name is Paul Patterson, and I have been at Fellowship since October 2021. Along with Kendall Bergman, I lead the Acts 2:42 Life Group. We are a committed group of Seniors and Young Adults, both married and singles, who meet on Sunday mornings after worship. I also coach other Life Group leaders and, along with my wife Thelma, facilitate Divorce Care ministry. We have also both been on mission trips to Mexico while at Fellowship.

‍

Recently, I heard a pastor recount his opportunity to preach in the 200-year-old church that he had attended as a child. As he walked up to the ancient pulpit, he saw etched in the wood a message to any preacher who approached to speak: "Let them see Jesus." This is a direct reference to today's scripture and encourages us to always focus our message and our audience on Jesus and others, not on ourselves. Christ tells us this "investment" will produce results many times over. In this passage, Christ is in the final days of his earthly ministry, and He is putting a fine point on his message and purpose. Jesus lovingly continued to teach a new, radical way of life through service, self-sacrifice and humility: invest in others first rather than oneself. This approach was so at odds with the thinking of the day, and still so different from the way today's culture functions, which seems laser-focused on material success as the standard by which we evaluate and compare one another. For example, we regularly reward with attention, authority and recognition those with the most toys, or the most likes and reposts. Yet with the image of the grain of wheat, Christ invites us to invest our lives rather than protect them. The light of Jesus' life not only showed us the path of His will, but it also exposed our selfish sins and calls for an honest, unvarnished repentance. This same lesson invites us into a repentant life dripping with grace so that we receive and rejoice in it. Christ's sacrifice brings about my reconciliation with God. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!"

‍

One theologian summed up this new relationship this way: "As the heart beholds the Son embracing the cross for the Father's glory and for the salvation of the nations, coldness gives way to worship — adoration of the Lamb who was slain, trust in His atoning blood, and a renewed longing to walk as a servant where He leads."

‍

Walking the path of righteousness requires purpose and obedience beyond self-satisfaction. Both in service and in my social circles, I can often fall short of obedience to Christ's loving example. I must practice going beyond simply admiring Jesus and focus on action; living a life that reflects His by loving others and prioritizing people over tasks. That means viewing daily choices — career, family, ministry, hidden sacrifices — as seeds placed into the ground for God's glory to blossom and shine in the lives of the relationships God brings my way. As Sam Luce wrote, "No man is a failure who has friends. In a hyper-consumeristic world that tells me I am only as valuable as what I can produce, I need to be reminded of this at least once a year. 'No man is a failure who has friends.'" And, I would add, the greatest friend we have is Jesus.