Today is Ash Wednesday. It’s the official start of Lent, the forty day period (excluding Sundays) leading up to Good Friday and Easter.

[It’s also Valentine’s Day. If you’re curious about who Valentine was, see the link at the bottom of this devotional for a short explanation.]

Back to Ash Wednesday.

Some Christians put ashes on their foreheads because they symbolize our mourning and regret for sin. Ashes also symbolize our mortality.

So far, it all seems pretty morbid. And let’s be honest. We live in a culture that doesn’t like to talk about death. 

But an awareness of your own death can actually improve your life. If you know that you only have a limited amount of time while here on earth, and if you know that you will one day give an account of your life before your Maker, that is most likely going to motivate you to live faithfully and well.

In the book of Amos, God’s wayward people are given a warning: “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel” (Amos 4:12). (This is the verse where the famous expression “prepare to meet thy God” comes from.) If you could die at any moment, and if you could meet him at any second, shouldn’t you be ready?

The ashes, repentance and reminders of mortality are meant to re-focus us on the shortness of life, and therefore, upon living that life faithfully before a merciful and holy God.

Confess sin.
Seek forgiveness.
Remember the shortness of life.
Cling to Christ.
And prepare to meet thy God. 

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Notes and extra content:

—“Who was Valentine?” Click here for a brief explanation on MatthewRuttan.com

—“Where is God? – Esther, Part 1” (Sermon). Click here. February 11, 2024.

—Bible quotes are from the NIV.