Lent is a holy season in the Christian calendar when believers prepare their hearts for Easter through repentance, meditation, and sincere devotion.
The Church established Lent as a 40-day period (not including Sundays) to mirror Jesus’ 40-day fast in the wilderness, where he directly resisted the Devil’s temptation and committed himself to the Father’s will. Early Christians used this time to teach and train new believers and practice self-examination, all centered around the Gospel of Christ. For Christians, hundreds of millions practice Lent leading up to Easter.
Today, Lent teaches us how to slow down and intentionally refocus on Christ. Many Christians fast from food or distractions, increase their prayer time, read the Bible more, or practice acts of generosity and service. Lent isn’t about earning God’s favor but remembering our need for grace and drawing near to the God who gave himself for us through Jesus on the cross.
Lent leads all believers to the cross, both Jesus’ and our own, and prepares us to celebrate the resurrection joy and hope.
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Severin Höin
1. Lent Reminds Us That God Sought Us First
We didn’t seek God first. Even before we knew anything about God or cared, God sought us out.
Our world celebrates the self, our own effort, and improvement. On the contrary, Lent calls us back to the reality of divine initiative and empowerment. We didn’t climb or earn our way to God. We didn’t begin the process of salvation. We couldn’t. Unless God revealed himself across the divide of sin and brokenness, we would never know about him at all.
God moved toward us first with his love, mercy, and grace. The apostle John reminds us: “We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) That single verse redefines our perspective for the season of Lent.
While we participate in Lent’s practices of prayer, fasting, and service, we aren’t trying to earn God’s love. We already have it, and he already proved it on the cross. Lent reminds our hearts and minds, renews them, with the truth that every step we take toward Jesus only responds to his initiation toward us.
In the cross, we see this with ultimate clarity. Jesus didn’t wait for the world to get its act together. He came while we were lost and unable to save ourselves. His pursuit began before we understood our need, felt conviction, or repented in faith, all gifts of God.
We return to God because he has already revealed his love for us. We confess that he already offers forgiveness in Christ. We surrender because he already provided a path back to the Father.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/m-gucci
2. Lent Shows the Depth of Christ's Sacrifice
Love cost God something. He didn’t simply feel bad for us and desire our good. He acted upon it.
Lent draws our attention to focus on the mind-boggling depth of Christ’s sacrifice, reminding us how deep and eternal God’s love is. Through this season, we fast and pray to create margin to look directly at the cross, not as a symbol but the absolute reality of God’s love. The apostle Paul says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) Lent allows us to meditate on this truth to renew our minds and hearts with a greater understanding of God’s compassion.
We see how love chooses suffering so others can be redeemed. Jesus didn’t endure the cross because of obligation or enjoy it. He faced it willingly because he loved us and wanted our reconciliation with the Father. He desired our freedom, restoration, and secure heavenly hope. The darkness and violence of his torture and death reveal a Savior who refused to leave us alone in brokenness.
Our response is two-fold. First, we face the cost of our salvation with gratitude and humility—God accomplished a great salvation we couldn’t. And he paid for our redemption with his own life. Second, we further understand how to love others through self-sacrifice. Not because we are obligated or enjoy pain, but we live sacrificially and generously so others can live, all with the power of God’s grace and Spirit.
3. Lent Reveals God's Complete Forgiveness
God’s salvation wasn’t a half-measure. He gave himself for a complete and utter salvation through complete forgiveness.
Lent helps us to remember God’s love through his overflowing forgiveness, one so full that nothing remains unforgiven for those who repent to follow Jesus. Through the season of Lent, we engage with a God who doesn’t hold our sins against us or over us. He removes them entirely. The psalmist even addresses this. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12)
When we confess and commit our lives to Christ’s lordship, we don’t approach an evil judge eager to condemn us. On the contrary, he desires and longs to forgive and reconcile. Our Father has already made the way of forgiveness through Jesus. The Messiah’s path to the cross shows us all how God didn’t settle for a conditional mercy. Our cleansing is complete—past, present, and future, all to walk in a restored and purposeful relationship with him.
Let us have Lent train our hearts to trust this truth. We fast to quiet the noise and distraction of the world. With this margin, we pray to align our hearts with his love and grace. We repent and serve not out of fear or to be forgiven but because we already are. Our disciplines are responses to the cleansing blood already provided for us in Jesus.
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash Ben White
4. Lent Displays God's Patience and Power in Our Weakness
God doesn’t reject or dismiss us in our weakness or failures. Instead, he seeks us out and draws closer, giving us power to overcome through his Spirit.
The world rejects us when we fail. The world condemns or mocks us for our weakness. God doesn’t. He loves us in our weakness and meets us there with Christ. Fasting declares a couple of realities. First, that the things of this world can’t satisfy or sustain us. Second, we live by a spiritual bread, the Spirit and Word of God.
Fasting exposes our weakness. Yet it also reveals God’s grace, his power within our lack. Lent points us back to God’s patience and power at work where we feel most fragile. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9). In fasting, we realize how easily we rely upon things other than God.
And when we repent, we find how often we’ve drifted away from his ways. When we pray, we discover how much we need His Spirit and help in all things. Lent teaches us how God doesn’t turn away from our struggles but draws near to strengthen and restore when we choose to trust him instead of the things of this world. His loving patience refuses to quit, even when we fail.
Further, Lent reminds us how God’s power shines clearly in our sincere surrender. Our weakness becomes the place where his grace becomes more evident.
5. Lent Reminds Us He Is with Us in Our Suffering
The Savior we follow chose suffering for the good of others, and when Jesus did, the Father expressed his nearness and pleasure. As disciples of Christ, we choose the same path to find a closer relationship with God.
In our suffering and pain, we often feel distant from God, but our feelings often lie to us. In reality, God hasn’t stepped back when we suffer. He comes closer. One of the reasons Jesus chose to live as a suffering servant was to walk with us through our struggles and trials. Part of Lent invites us to trace Christ’s footsteps from the wilderness to the cross. Jesus faced every type of temptation, betrayal, and oppression, all so he could understand them and be our High Priest while we endure life’s difficult moments.
The Bible tells us, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” (Psalm 34:18) When we feel distant from God, Jesus’ suffering in ministry and the cross reminds us he knows what we’re going through. The Father sees our pain and pain, and he has compassion for them from his own experience as a human.
Not only does he know the difficulties, but he also won and understands how to overcome them, how to persevere in faith. We aren’t hopeless in the pain; he sees us through, helping us live according to his victory in the midst of such trials. His presence comforts, strengthens, and sustains us. We never suffer alone or in despair. Not with Jesus.
Photo Credit: ©Unsplash/Warren Wong
6. Lent Brings Us into Renewal, Not Condemnation
We suffer in hope because the cross wasn’t the end of the story. He rose again. And if we suffer with him, and he with us, then we find renewal.
God’s love won’t lead us to condemnation but renewal. Lent invites us to examine our hearts closely, but not to shame or guilt. The new covenant forgives and justifies completely, removing any shame. The Spirit doesn’t condemn. He doesn’t need to. Those who sin are condemned already. God’s love moves within our hearts for conviction, a hopeful correction to a better and more blessed life. The Father exposes our sin only so he can heal it and bring us closer to him. The apostle Paul knew his sin (condemning and oppressing Christians before his conversion), but he also wrote, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)
The Spirit’s call to repentance comes from God’s desire to restore us. When we fast or pray, we may become aware of attitudes, habits, or lusts that pull us away from God. The Lord reveals those things not to crush us but to reshape and transform us. Lent doesn’t trap us in guilt and shame. It invites us to redemption and being renewed.
The season teaches us to walk toward God and deal with our sin rightly, for good, rather than hide from him in shame. We surrender because he’s for our good. And we act with charity and generosity toward others to show them the same love and godly heart, not judgment.
Photo Credit: Unsplash/Leohoho
7. Lent Helps Us Rely On God's Promises
We repent from sin and self, but more importantly, we turn to a Person who loves us so much that he gives us great promises.
Believers don’t walk by feelings or circumstances; we move forward by God’s promises to us. His promises align with his character and will, and his promises fulfilled bless us and give glory to his great Name.
Lent helps us focus on God’s promises during a season of hardship. We choose to enter Jesus’ journey to the cross. And as Jesus knew the promise of life after death, we do the same. We turn our attention from our worries to God’s Word. While we fast, meditate, repent, and serve others, we recognize how we can still be selfish in fear and self-reliance. Lent anchors our hope in God’s promises to us in the Bible.
Scripture gives us this assurance: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Jesus is the “Amen” to God (Revelation 3:14), agreeing with the Father’s will. We receive all those promises by being alive in Christ. Jesus’ resurrection confirms God’s victory over every curse and sin leading to death. Lent helps us rediscover how His Word gives us hope in his promises when we struggle, fail, or doubt.
Lent teaches us to cling to the Father’s promises the way the Son did on the way to the cross. Because we can trust it leads to resurrection.
Photo Credit: © Unsplash/Anton Darius
8. Lent Leads Us to Resurrection Hope
No matter the darkness now, it’s only temporary. For those committed to Christ, our end is light and life.
God’s love doesn’t leave us in sorrow. Death isn’t the end of the story. Lent has us walk through meditation and repentance while reflecting on Christ’s suffering, but it never ends with pain. The story of the cross includes the victory, one already won for us by Jesus. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!” (1 Peter 1:3)
As we journey through Lent, we face the cost of sin and salvation. Yet even through this sobering experience, God’s love shines. He didn’t allow death to have the final word with Jesus. And if we repent unto him, living in him, neither will it have the last word with us. No, eternal life will have the final say.
The Father raised the Son so we could live with an unshakable hope. In Lent, we hold both realities at the same time: the sorrow of the cross and the joy of the empty tomb. These are connected and real, not contradictory at all. Lent directs our gaze beyond our current pain (where God journeys with us in Christ and the Spirit) and further calls us to how Christ conquered death for us. If Good Friday is real, then so is Easter morning.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/olegkalina
Originally published Monday, 16 February 2026.