Our wrong doings pile up before you, God, our sins stand up and accuse
us. Our wrongdoings stare us down; we know in detail what we have done:
Mocking and denying God, not following our God, Spreading false rumors ,
inciting sedition, pregnant with lies, muttering malice. Justice is
beaten back, righteousness is banished to the sidelines, Truth staggers
down the street, Honesty is nowhere to be found, Good is missing in
action.
Isa 59:12-14 The Message

I need this season of lent because I naturally will not want to be
reflective or practice repentance. My wrong doings are like my garage
after six months to a year. I say, “How did all this get here.” Look at
all this junk I accumulated. It seems overwhelming to begin to clean it
up. So I continue to throw stuff in there hoping it will just take care
of itself, but as we know it doesn’t. Many of our church traditions
practice a discipline called ‘the examine’, where we spend time
examining our life and reflecting on and acknowledging our sin. The
individual sins are just things we stuffed in the garage. What is more
important is our turning our backs on God. We have ignored Him and in
doing so we have not kept our spiritual house clean. We need to repent,
to change our minds, turn around and come face to face with Jesus again.
Jesus is the lover of our souls who longs to help us keep our spiritual
garage clean.
Isaiah the prophet is coming to Israel and saying, your garage is full
of —- stuff. Since your life is full of all the wrong stuff there is
no space for justice (setting the world right) or living righteous, it
has been sidelined. Truth is staggering. It has no power in your life.
Honesty can’t be found and there is no space for goodness in action.
What happens to me is I get so overwhelmed with my garage being full
that I am paralyzed and have no space for others in my life. There is no
room for love. Christ has come to help us live in His kingdom. A way of
life that the garage of our souls never gets cluttered again. He invites
us to a life of reflection and repentance. This 40 days is not just a
once a year cleaning but a way of life. The church is to live as kingdom
people. In prayer begin to ask God to reveal the ways you have turned
your back on Him. Then ask Him through the power of His Spirit to help
you not stuff your wrongdoings in the garage of your soul, but to offer
them to Him for transformation of your very being into His likeness.
Practice this as often as you can and begin to make it a daily, weekly
and monthly time of reflection and repentance. You will be amazed at how
clean your garage stays and the space you have to love the world.

Sean Blomquist, Shelter Covenant Church