Rising Out of the Ashes

When I was in Jacksonville and my kids would go on field trips, the school would often ask me to be a chaperone for my son’s class. One trip I went on was the 8th grade trip to New York. It was in February and it was cold. I had never been to New York and wasn’t familiar with the New York attitude, especially when I was wearing my Miami Dolphins coat in the middle of all the Jets fans...those who know football and their nasty rivalry will appreciate the dirty looks and smart remarks I would get from New Yorkers. Anyway, one day I noticed lots of people with some black ash on their foreheads. I had no idea what it meant. Having been raised a naive SDA, I didn’t know much about Ash Wednesday, but I quickly learned what it meant. In case you are like me, Ash Wednesday is a Christian, primarily Catholic, holy day for prayer and fasting. Therefore, in New York were about 3 million Catholics live, many of the people walking the streets had this black ash on their forehead because they had gone to church were a priest would put this substance on their forehead reminding them that they will return to dust. However, the ashes represent both death and resurrection.

By the way, here’s a fun fact, Mardis Gras, that crazy celebration in New Orleans, is the time Christians prepare for Ash Wednesday because on the Tuesday before...they eat rich and fatty foods before their time of fasting. Mardis Gras is French for Fat Tuesday which happens every year the day before Ash Wednesday. In case you are totally out of the Christian calendar loop. Yesterday was Mardi Gras, and today if you are reading it on Wednesday, February 17, is Ash Wednesday. Why am I writing this? I believe that we need to embrace not Mardi Gras, but the Jesus that wants us to rise up from the ashes of sin. Ash Wednesday is a reminder for millions of people of how they need to confess, repent, and move forward in God’s resurrection power.

In my Seventh-day Adventist tribe we have long proclaimed that we are in the modern era of God’s Days of Atonement, an investigative judgment which started in 1844. I believe Ash Wednesday can be a reminder to people in my tribe and for all of us to confess, repent, and embrace the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. So...where do you find yourself today? Are you in a dark cycle of sin that only you and Jesus know about?

For thousands of years now, humanity's heart has been in need of Christ's purifying power, and I love what Ellen White once wrote in a book called Steps to Christ, where she shares that the closer we get to Jesus, the darker we see ourselves and the more desperate we are for Him. Therefore, making Christ our number one priority, every single day, will give us the strength to rise up out of the dark ashes that surround us and the darkness that attempts to live in our hearts.

Darkness can come in different forms. What is the darkness that consumes your heart and mind? The desire of sin to cling to us is great...it may not be an addiction or things we do...it can come in the most subtle way. The wolf from Little Red Riding Hood for example, had a dark, selfish, and prideful heart. It was all about him and what he wanted. Have you seen your life as something that revolves around you, and what you want to do, and not something that revolves around Jesus? I admit I have been there more than once. Pride, and self-glorifying thoughts are things I have struggled with all my life and that can lead me into dark valleys. But here is the good news...it doesn’t matter how dark our life seems right now or how dark you feel your heart might be...why? Because it is usually darkest at midnight, but a few hours later the sun always rises. Whatever darkness of sin we are in, Jesus is ready to rise up in our lives. When He was in the tomb, it was arguably the darkest moment in human history. Demons were celebrating His death, but before the sun rose, when it was still dark, an angel came to the tomb and told Jesus to Rise Up. And because He rose, we have a wonderful promise we can embrace found in Romans 5:18-21

"So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience (Adam) the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One (Jesus) the many will be made righteous. The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Has sin increased in your life to the point that God's light is no longer in your sight? Good News: Grace has abounded even more through the love of the Creator for your life. The Creator in Jesus can restore our lives. In fact, the only way our lives can be repaired and restored is if we are daily allowing Jesus to rise up in our hearts giving us that resurrection power for today, and the next day, and the next day. So may we experience the light of God’s presence in our lives by inviting Jesus to resurrect daily in our hearts and help us overcome the darkness as we rise out of the ashes.