2021 Daily Devotion - Day 330

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Today is Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, which is a time of reflection and repentance as we prepare for Holy Week and Easter. Over the last several years at Mount of Olives Church in Mission Viejo, CA, we have used the song by Kansas called Dust in the Wind a couple of times in our Ash Wednesday service. We have even had someone play the violin as was done in the original recording which adds to the lugubrious and mournful message of the song. The song represents our broken condition which we must examine on Ash Wednesday and throughout Lent.

I close my eyes
Only for a moment, and the moment's gone
All my dreams
Pass before my eyes, a curiosity

Dust in the wind
All they are is dust in the wind

Same old song
Just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do
Crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
Oh

Now, don't hang on
Nothin' lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away
And all your money won't another minute buy

Dust in the wind
All we are is dust in the wind
(All we are is dust in the wind)
Dust in the wind
(Everything is dust in the wind)
Everything is dust in the wind
The wind

(Songwriter: Kerry Livgren)

This is the message of the scriptures as well.

Ecclesiastes 3:20 NRS
All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again.

In the past, as people enter our worship center on Ash Wednesday, we mark them with the sign of the cross on their foreheads using ashes, and we say, “From ashes you and came and ashes you will return, but you have been redeemed in Jesus Christ.” The ashes are an impactful reminder of our true condition. No matter what we do or how hard we try, we will someday die. The ashes are humbling because we look a little silly with them on our foreheads. In a society which values glamour and success along with power and materialism, it is a good shock to our ego. In truth, we are really broken people. But in the midst of all of this is the Good News of hope in Jesus who has conquered for you – “sin, death and the power of the devil”. So, on the one hand, Ash Wednesday reminds us of our broken condition, but on the other hand, we learn there is victory in Jesus.

Colossians 1:13-14 NRS
He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Pray with me:
Heavenly Father, Ash Wednesday is such a powerful reminder of our true condition. Use the message of Ash Wednesday to confront our arrogance and liberate us in Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen.

Yours because of Him,
Pastor John R. Steward
Senior Pastor
Mount of Olives Church
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