Ash Wednesday

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust." It's not in the Bible. It's from the funeral service in the Book of Common Prayer. We repent "in dust and ashes." We see this in the Bible. The penitent would cover themselves with ashes and dust. We don't do this anymore. A little ashes on the forehead may symbolize it for some, but it is not the same thing. Frankly, the Biblical concept of repentance is obscured by this picture of dust and ashes. Repentance is about change, not sorrow. In fact, sorrow is a poor substitute for change. For some of us, sorrow is a nice compromise, since we don't really want to turn from our sins. We'll apologize for them with great sincerity and then run back to them. It won't matter if we bathe in ashes; it means nothing. God does not care how sorry I am for my sins. This is human religious pretense. If I trust in Christ and turn away from sin and my sins in His power, that's another story. That's the gospel. Repentance is powerful and required. It is connected to salvation. Repentance is not about God punishing me for my sins with guilt and remorse. It is about God punishing His only Son, Jesus, for my sins with His substitutionary death on the cross and His burial in the tomb and me resting on and receiving what He's done as my only hope in this life and the next.