Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh; for it is nigh at hand – Joel 2:12,15).
Joyce Pharo writes, ‘Lent is the clearing away of the cobwebs which our faith somehow manages to accumulate. It is a re-examination of our relationship with Jesus Christ and renewing our commitment to him.’ Every year, we are reminded to take missional action. We are called to “blow the trumpet in Zion and sound the alarm in the holy mountain.” Why are we called to blow the trumpet and sound the alarm? We all know that “an alarm clock is a contraption designed to scare the daylight into us.” The church and its leadership need the daylight scared into us.
The sound of the alarm and trumpet is to awaken the sleeping saints and churches. So lent alarm is for the slumbering saint to wake up, ‘for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed” (Rom 13:11). There is a sign around the neck of declining church and preachers saying, “Please, do not disturb.” Beloved in Christ, is it nothing to you that the closer we get to the coming of Jesus, the sleepier some of the saints are even in the face of the “apostasy signs?
Lent alarm tells us it is time to face up, ‘for the time comes to that judgment must begin at the house of God’ (1 Pet 4:17). Lent alarm warns us that there is the corrective judgment of the church and the condemnation judgment of the sinner. Lent alarm calls us to decide whether to serve Jesus Christ or not. We are in an age where it costs to name the name of Jesus. Lent alarm warns that to be true to the old rugged Cross calls us to remain faithful to Christ. The Lent alarm reminds us that we ought to live in the urgency of the time (1 Cor 7:29-30). It is time to be sober and vigilant, thereby putting the cause and mission of Jesus Christ first. Lent alarm calls us to awake from church maintenance to movement, sowing to ourselves in righteousness to reap in mercy. Finally, beloved, the Lent alarm calls us to break up our fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord (Hos 10:12).
O Lord, use me to break up the fallow ground and save my loved one and friend before it is too late.
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