The Upper Room 14th February 2024 Devotional Message
The Upper Room 14th February 2024 Devotional, Wednesday Message by Cindy Bear (Iowa, USA)
TOPIC: Ash Wednesday
TODAY’S READING
Matthew 6:9-15
If you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. – Matthew 6:14 (NIV)
I had never given up anything for Lent because the practice did not seem meaningful to me.
Then one year on Ash Wednesday, my pastor challenged us to think differently about giving up something for Lent. He asked us to think of a person we were holding a grudge or anger or resentment against and invited us to forgive them.
Years earlier I had gone through a divorce. My spouse had cheated on me again and again. I had been deeply hurt. How could I ever forgive him?
I struggled with my feelings. Was I ready to release all the pain he had caused me? Finally I decided that, yes, I was going to forgive.
The pastor asked us to write on a piece of paper what we were giving up. I wrote it down, then folded the piece of paper. The congregation was then invited to burn our slips of paper in a bowl. It was one of the most meaningful Ash Wednesday services I had ever attended.
It wasn’t easy to forgive. And by forgiving him, I’m not saying that what he did was okay because it wasn’t. But deciding to give up my feelings of hatred and resentment was a freeing experience, and it still is. I could move on with my life without the weight of anger and resentment that I had been carrying around for years. So I would like to challenge you to give up something meaningful for Lent and surrender it to God. You won’t believe how liberating it is!
TODAY’S PRAYER
Thank you, God, for forgiving us. Help us to be as forgiving of others. Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Forgiveness can set me free from emotional burdens.
PRAYER FOCUS
Someone I want to forgive
The Upper Room is a daily devotional magazine published in more than 30 languages and 100 countries around the world. The daily meditations are written by readers of the magazine and others interested in sharing their faith experiences through writing—both laity and clergy, published authors and new writers. The meditations are stories of real people working to live faithfully with the Bible as their touchstone. Every day, readers of The Upper Room around the world read the same story in many different languages and pray the same prayer together.
