Spiritual Bankruptcy
Reflections for Lent
by Melissa Lien
“You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
2 Corinthians 8:9
During this season of Lent, what might it look like to slow down and consider these words of Jesus: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3)? Have you ever thought about poverty being a blessing? Can we be spiritually rich apart from the gracious intervention of God? Have we bought into the darkest of delusions that it is possible to please God out of our own independent spiritual riches?
“We all need bankruptcy. This is the first step of God’s work in our lives. In an act of divine mercy, God opens the well-guarded vault of our righteousness to show us that, contrary to what we thought, it is absolutely empty. We then must face the shocking realization of our complete poverty… and this drives us to cry out for forgiveness and help. In this way the magnificent blessings of the kingdom of God are open and available only to the poor. It is admitting that you have nothing that causes you to reach out for the amazing ‘something’ that is offered to you in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
~Paul David Tripp (Journey to the Cross)
This Lent, consider taking some time to evaluate where you are telling yourself you are rich. What would it look like to confess just how poor we actually are, yet how vast is the storehouse of riches only because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Bankruptcy just might be the beginning of true wealth.
God’s Invitation to You:
To go deeper in His Word, meditate on Ephesians 2:1-22. Reflect on who you were before Christ and what is yours in Christ.
Reflection Questions:
What is the thing that would fill in the blank for you: “If I just had _______, then I would be happy?”
How would your reaction to being financially bankrupt be different from a realization of being spiritually bankrupt?
How might discovering your own spiritual bankruptcy bring you to find great relief and help in the riches of Jesus?
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved…
so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 2:4-5, 7