Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday which of course is the first day of Lent. Lent is that wonderful season in the Christian year that challenges us to not settle for “halfway.”
In Genesis 11, God spoke to Terah (the father of Abraham) to collect his family and leave Ur, which was the land of the Chaldeans and move them to Canaan. Unfortunately, Terah stopped at a place called Haran and lived the rest of his life there. The word Haran in Hebrew literally means “halfway.”
Genesis 11:31 ESV
Terah took Abram, his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they SETTLED there. Terah never experienced the promised land of Canaan because he settled for halfway. For sure, he left behind Ur and the Chaldeans, but he never went as far as God intended him to. It was not God’s destiny for him to die, having only traveled halfway to enjoy all that God had called him to enjoy in Canaan.
Of course, Canaan represents the Fullness of Christ offered to every believer as their inheritance. The Spirit-filled life is the life that daily enjoys and manifests all that Jesus is and has. It is so easy to be content with the fact that we have traveled some distance from where we once were spiritually settling for “the more” instead of pressing on to “the all” that is ours in Christ. Halfway is better than where you were but tragically less than what you were destined for.
Lent is the season that stirs us up to leave Haran behind before we end up dying there and to press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Our inheritance is an extravagant one – all that Christ is and all that Christ has – therefore, our pursuit should be extravagant. Lent is a season of extravagance. Never settle! Have a holy journey into Canaan this lent.