I cannot decider whether Edna Hong’s short essay “A Look Inside” challenges me because it makes me uncomfortable or because I disagree with some of her wording and conclusion. It is probably a little bit of both. I am challenged by what she finally calls the “downward descent” where we truly find ourselves at the cross. Where we get past the superficial and into the sinful depth of ourselves, that our confidence in God may grow. However, I disagree with her use of guilt as leading to genuine contrition and forgiveness. It may just be semantics but I don’t see guilt as an apt description of how God truly, lovingly, graciously convicts us of our sin. There is much in the essay to challenge and that is where the focus should remain.
“Lent would indeed be a futile liturgical farce if the redeemed were henceforth sinless and if the tides of human nature were not always moving even the twice-born, who have not shed their human nature, in the direction of complacency and taking it all for granted”- Edna Wong. There is a legitimate risk we take in observing Lent that it actually leads to complacency instead of repentance, gratitude, and growth. We must allow our staring into the crucified face of Christ to have the full work of exposing our sin and making plain our need for forgiveness. This is necessary for the new believer and the seasoned saint.
As we make our “downward ascent” may we remember that humble Christ calls us heavenward through the same state of humility with which He lived and died.