Feb. 22, 2026 - Explore the Heart of Christ

As the season of Lent unfolds before us, we find ourselves on a forty-day pilgrimage toward Easter—a journey of preparation, reflection, and transformation. This sacred season invites us to draw closer to the heart of Jesus, to discover what matters most to Him, and to align our hearts with His divine purposes.

In our modern world, names are often chosen for their sound, their popularity, or family tradition. We might select a name because we heard it in a movie or simply because it felt right. But in the ancient world, naming carried profound significance. A name wasn't just an identifier—it was a declaration of essence, destiny, and character.

Consider the names given to Jesus. Emmanuel—God with us. What a powerful encapsulation of the incarnation! In Jesus, divinity and humanity unite perfectly. When we encounter Jesus in the Gospels, we're not merely learning about God from a distance; we're experiencing God in flesh, walking among us, speaking to us, reaching out to touch us.

Then there's Yeshua—Jesus—meaning "God saves." As we journey toward Easter, this name becomes our anchor. Jesus didn't come merely to teach or inspire; He came to save us from the human condition that separates us from God. His death and resurrection accomplish what we could never do for ourselves.

Jesus also named Himself with those powerful "I am" statements that echo throughout John's Gospel: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." "I am the bread of life." "I am the resurrection and the life." Each declaration reveals another facet of His character and mission. When Jesus says "I am," He's claiming the divine name revealed to Moses at the burning bush—He is declaring His deity while simultaneously showing us how to truly live.

Here's a beautiful truth: we need different aspects of Jesus during different seasons of our lives. Sometimes we need Him as a friend—someone to whom we can pour out our hearts without judgment or condemnation. Other times, we need to encounter Him as the powerful Creator of the universe, the One who can move mountains and accomplish the impossible.

Are you hungering for something of substance in your spiritual life? Call upon Jesus as the Bread of Life. Are you walking through the valley of the shadow of death? Reach out to Him as the Resurrection and the Life. Whatever you're facing, there's a name of Jesus that speaks directly to your need.

This Lenten season offers us an opportunity to cultivate a prayer life that names Jesus according to our deepest needs. As we pray using these different names of God, we invite the relevance and reality of who Jesus is to minister to us personally and powerfully.

The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Philippi with a radical message. Philippi was a "little Rome"—a city steeped in Roman culture, complete with temples, an amphitheater, and a colosseum for gladiator games. Most significantly, it housed the emperor cult, where citizens were expected to worship Caesar as god in flesh.

Imagine the pressure on early Christians in this environment. To be a good Roman citizen meant regularly visiting Caesar's temple, making an offering, and declaring, "Caesar is Lord." Later, when persecution intensified, this became a matter of survival. Men needed meal tickets to buy food for their families, and those tickets required this act of worship to Caesar.

Picture a father facing this impossible choice: compromise your faith with a simple phrase, or watch your family starve. The temptation to rationalize must have been overwhelming: "It's just words. God knows my heart. Everyone else is doing it."

But Paul's message was uncompromising: "At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord." (Philippians 2:10-11)

Caesars would come and go. Their empires would rise and fall. But the name of Jesus—that name carries eternal power and authority. Jesus alone is Lord of all. Don't compromise the faith for temporary comfort or cultural conformity.

This historical context illuminates our own Lenten journey. We live in a world with countless competing lordships—consumerism, success, comfort, entertainment, political ideologies. Each day, we face subtle invitations to bow the knee to something other than Jesus.

The tradition of giving something up for Lent isn't about arbitrary sacrifice or earning God's favor. It's about identifying what distracts us from a deeper, richer relationship with Jesus Christ. What keeps you from cultivating the spiritual life you know you need? What would you be embarrassed to be doing if Jesus returned today?

Maybe it's not about giving something up at all. Perhaps you need to take something on—a daily prayer practice, scripture reading, acts of service, or intentional solitude. The goal is singular: to live in such a way that when we stand before Jesus—as we all inevitably will—we can kneel with peace, confidence, and joy rather than anxiety or guilt.

The beauty of the Lenten season is that it gives us time and space to reorient our lives. We're not rushing toward Easter; we're preparing for it. We're conditioning our hearts to beat in rhythm with God's heart. We're learning to care about what Jesus cares about.

Every aspect of our lives can become a confession that Jesus is Lord. Our words, our actions, our thoughts, our priorities, our relationships, our use of time and resources—all of it can proclaim this fundamental truth.

As you journey through this Lenten season, consider this invitation: cultivate an attitude where everything about you confesses that Jesus is Lord. Let your prayer life deepen as you call upon the name that is above every name. Let your choices reflect the lordship of Christ rather than the competing voices of culture.

One day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. The question is not whether we'll acknowledge Jesus as Lord, but whether we'll do so with the peace that comes from a life lived in faithful devotion or with the regret of opportunities missed.

The name of Jesus holds mysterious and transformative power. May this Lenten season draw you deeper into the reality of that name, and may your life become a beautiful, bold confession: Jesus is Lord.