Jesus begins His explanation of the parable of the Sower by saying: “The seed is the Word of God.” This seed is meant for our hearts. That is where our treasures are stored. That Word is threatened by manifold dangers in this world. Those dangers want to keep us from bearing mature fruit, that is from believing in Christ and being saved. To that end  they attack our sanctification with false promises of pleasure, threats of pain, and false histories. If they can fill our hearts with selfishness, they can push out the Holy Spirit. To resist this we need counter measures. We need to cultivate faith and fill our hearts with God’s Word, as Jesus says, “He who is of God, hears God’s Word” (John 8:47, NKJV).

The danger is real. We need to take it seriously. St. Paul warns us to watch “carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled” (Hebrews 12:15, NKJV). James writes: “if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic” (James 3:14–15, NKJV). This is what the devils want. 

But the counter measures are simple if not easy. Again, Jesus says to those who believe in Him: “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31–32, NKJV)  .

We do not do this to add merit to our faith. We do it to cast out fear, striving to walk worthy of our calling, and to make our call and election sure. St. Peter writes that it is possible to “be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (But), at the same time, “he who lacks (a diligent faith) is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore,” he says, “be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pe 1:5–11, NKJV.) 

We want to be the good soil in the parable, upon which the Word falls and takes root and bears fruit. We want to have the perseverance needed to obtain what grace has won for us. We want to be ears that hear. To this end, I am suggesting a three-fold discipline for Lent. 

1. The Catechism. 

The first leg is to recommit to learning the Catechism by heart.  You need to have this on the tip of your tongue. The Catechism is not just for children. It is for war. You were never meant to forget and leave it. You were meant to treasure it and use it.

If you can’t recite the Catechism by heart, I suggest you begin with the 10 commandments. Take the first two the first week. Write them out long hand and then read them outloud two or three times in the morning, before every meal, and again just before bed. You will likely know them by heart by the 5th day. Add the next two the next week, repeating the ones already just once. During Holy Week you will be ready for the conclusion and explanation. 

You can do this, of course, with any of the six chief parts. If you already know the Catechism by heart then add some key Bible passages. I advise that you don’t try to tackle the whole thing during Lent because we have two other legs and because it is more deeply learned if it is not crammed.

2. Public and Private Worship

The next leg is to increase public and private worship. Consider coming to Church on Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings in addition to Sundays. Call the pastors and make an appointment for Absolution before Easter. Recommit to daily Bible reading and intercessory prayer. 

3. Old Testament History

The final leg is to relearning the most important Bible stories from the Old Testament. We need this because the devil lies about creation and about history. History matters – not to the level of doctrine, but close. History defines who we are. It also tells us something of what we can likely expect in the future. The history of Israel is a clear pattern. God is gracious and kind to His people. They grow cold and ungrateful. They rebel against Him and worship false gods. He chastens them with a taste of His wrath. That wrath drives them back into His arms, There they again find grace and forgiveness anew. This  repeats over and over.  We should see our own personal histories in this pattern. We should be warned by it and resist it. We should also hear the promise here: God is gracious, He takes back prodigals,  His mercy endures forever. 

Errors about creation and other details of history are never innocuous or trivial. It is essential that God doesn’t create through violence, that He favors the strong and wants the weak to go extinct. That is a demonic idea that worships power. It is also demonic to think that human beings are simply a collection of atoms no different than earthworms. That is a ploy toward amorality. When the devil spouts these sorts things and teaches stupid lies like, “All wars are caused by religion” or “Christianity is the religion of the Nazis” or “The Missouri-Synod is systematically racist,” he is sowing the roots of bitterness. He is suggesting that God Himself is evil or not actually powerful and compassionate and that He can’t be trusted. 

To resist this and see through these lies we need to know and learn the actual stories from the Bible. The history of Israel is our history. It is rife with lessons, examples, and inspiration for faith. Doctrine must come first and the Church year and Catechism do a good job of that. Worship also must be central for our faith. We must actually receive God’s forgiveness where He promises it. In addition, though, we need to know the Bible stories so that we know the real story and can recognize Satan’s propaganda for what it is. 

To this end, we are providing a suggested schedule of daily readings for Lent that tries to hit the key events in the history of Israel in chronological order. Much is left out. But there is no rush. You have your whole life to work on this. We plan on adding another schedule like this that hits less key or pivotal stories but which will be equally rewarding for Advent and Lent next year. For now we start with the basics, with each epoch of Israel’s history represented. If it drives you to read further, by all means do so. The work ought to be a joy. 

Dealing with Failures

Committing to this will help to train your flesh and your memory. It will put God’s Word and doctrine on the tip of your tongue so that you are ready to fight when tempted and ready to witness when the opportunities arise. 

If you miss some days for weakness of laziness or lack of zeal, don’t quit. Just pick up the schedule again according to the calendar day. Recommit. Start anew. We are all weak at times. The perfect is the enemy of the good here and something is definitely better than nothing. Even if you only memorize one of the commandments and read only a fourth of the stories, you will be far richer than if you did nothing. Your flesh will be weakened by it and your soul strengthened. And over time, you will find peace in it and courage.

– Pastor Petersen