If you’re new to Lenten Song Reflections, click here to learn about it.

Click here to follow the Spotify playlist.

Words of Reflection

One of the theological terms at play when we talk about repentance is justification—the movement that takes place when we bring our sin to God and find forgiveness, and in doing so find ourselves transferred from a state of guilt and shame to one of grace and mercy. Justification is where our souls are washed clean and we receive the righteousness of Christ that we could never earn.

It is a beautiful thing.

It’s ironic, then, that the same term which describes how God deals with our sin is also a term that describes our own attempts to minimize it. We stand as those who need the justification that only Christ can bring, but often what stands in the way is our desire for a different kind of justification—the kind that we use to excuse our sin and explain it away.

How many excuses do we come up with to dismiss the severity of our sin? How many ways do we rationalize what we’ve done, sometimes to the point where we feel there’s really no need to bring God into it? When we reach that point, we have found a level of denial that is not only unhealthy, it is dangerous and often destructive.

The truth is this: repentance requires brutal honesty with ourselves and before God. In repentance we ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and bring anything that is not of God to the surface so it can be dealt with. It can be a very unpleasant process as we confront the ugliness of our sin, but we need to always remember that the Spirit is a skilled and loving surgeon—the knife may cut deep, but the goal is always our healing.

Our human tendency is to hide. It’s been that way since the beginning (Gen. 3:8). But Jesus calls us out of our hiding and our denial because he loves us and wants to see us restored. Our attempts at justification are rooted in our fear and shame, but in the presence of Christ those are not just lessened—they are completely obliterated. There, in that place of difficult honesty, we find the tender mercies of God have freedom to move and work.

It is a beautiful thing.

Scripture for Meditation:

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
—1 John 1:5-9 (NRSV)

Song: His Mercy is More (lyrics here)

Questions for Reflection

Do you find it easy or difficult to be honest with God about your own struggle with sin? How does your image of God impact that part of your life with Christ? How might God be inviting you into a place of even deeper honesty and vulnerability?
John writes, “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.” When the light of God shines on our lives, it illuminates everything, even the things we have tried to hide. Can you receive that truth with a joyful heart? If not, what emotions and concerns get in the way? How can you offer those to God in prayer?
Spend some time in prayer reflection of this lyric from today’s song:
What patience would wait as we constantly roam?
What Father, so tender, is calling us home?
Sit with the truth of God’s patience and tenderness for a while. Let it lead your heart to grateful worship and prayer.