Lent2026: Metanoia

The Lenten season is a time traditionally set aside for "Metanoia,"  a transformative change of heart. While we often focus on what we lack, Lent calls us to account for what we have been given and how we have handled it.

The writer of one of the KJV Devotionals wrote a prayer which had a unique line - " I have been guilty of squandering and wasting your blessings...".

This is something we don't hear or pray about: we are normally asking for His blessings, for various things, or thanking Him for deliverance and so on.

But this aspect really makes one think: how many blessings, asked and unasked have we wasted or squandered? For example - each day is a blessing. How much of that day do we really use productively for His work or for our employer or our family? How many hours do we waste on gossip, small talk, trivial arguments etc?

Are we truly worthy of receiving His blessings, asked or unasked?

Most of our prayers are petitions ("Give us this day") or gratitude ("Thank you for this day"). Rarely do we offer a prayer of Stewardship Accountability. We treat blessings like wages we have earned or gifts to be consumed, rather than seed to be sown.

If we reflect on the wasted or squandered blessings the answers will indeed be heartbreaking for God. Let us see how:

1. The Squandered Moment

The Scripture says: “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” — Ephesians 5:15-16

Each sunrise is a miraculous deposit into our spiritual account. Yet, we often "bankrupt" our days through the friction of triviality. We spend the currency of God’s time on the "small talk" of gossip or the "trivial arguments" of the ego.

Reflect: If your day was a talent (Matthew 25), would the Master find it buried in the dirt of distraction, or multiplied in the service of others?

2. The Wasted Grace

The Scripture says: “Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” — 2 Corinthians 6:1

We often pray for deliverance from a trial, but once delivered, do we squander our newfound peace? We ask for health, then use our energy for selfish ambition. We ask for provision, then withhold it from the needy. To receive grace "in vain" is to accept the blessing but refuse the transformation that should follow it.

Reflect: What "answered prayer" in your life is currently sitting idle or being misused?

3. The Question of Worthiness

The Scripture says: “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’” — Luke 15:21

The KJV writer’s prayer brings us to the feet of the Prodigal Son. The tragedy of the Prodigal wasn’t just that he left home; it was that he "squandered his property in reckless living." He wasted the Father's substance.

In that sense, we are all "the prodigal son", are we not? Have we not wasted His  blessings? 

Lent reminds us that we are not worthy of the blessings we receive—that is the very definition of Grace. But our unworthiness should lead to deeper reverence, not reckless waste.