LENT 2021:  A CLEAN HEART 

I am at the close of Ash Wednesday.  

Psalm 51 is one of our traditional readings on Ash Wednesday, and today was no exception.  In fact, I sang a portion of it:  "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me . . . Cast me not away from Thy Presence, O Lord, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.  Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and renew a right spirit within me." 

God already knows I need a clean heart, and that one of the hardest places for me to keep a clean heart is on Facebook, where I spent too much of my free time.  This past year has been so difficult because it's so easy to find topics of disagreement:  wearing mask, political divisions, racism, etc.  I have tried, somewhat successfully, to stay out of the arguments, but it seems that C. S. Lewis's devil, Screwtape, is always finding a way to get under my spiritual skin.  One of my cousins carries out a good daily plan:  He post a short Biblically sound thought each day with a scripture verse.  Who can argue with that? 

My personal theme for this Lenten season is "A CLEAN HEART."  I think one way for me to address this is to study and practice the fruits of the Spirit, and other scriptures about appropriate behavior for believers.  If we are to be ambassadors for Christ in the world, we have to allow people to see Him in our lives and hear Him in our speech.   

It may be helpful to compare these two lists: 

• the works of the flesh (we don't want to do these) 
• the fruit of the Spirit (we do want to do these). 

Galatians, chapter 5:

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: 

fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is: 

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.