Steve Manskar shares some excellent thoughts on the meaning of Ash Wednesday and the importance of repentance in the life of the believer and the church.
Here’s a quote:
Persons who lack repentance live in a world of illusion. This world is represented best in contemporary western culture which is deluded into believing sin does not exist. If something does not exist then it cannot be a problem. In a world that does not recognize sin as a real problem, evil is regarded as an anomaly. It occurs only in rare persons like terrorists and dictators. People in the west do not recognize sin in themselves because they are bombarded by messages in media, and the church, that people are essentially good. If people believe they are good then repentance becomes irrelevant.
I am a part-time local pastor serving 
This love we believe to be the medicine of life, the never-failing remedy for all the evils of a disordered world, for all the miseries and vices of men. Wherever this is, there are virtue and happiness going hand in hand. There is humbleness of mind, gentleness, long-suffering, the whole image of God; and at the same time a peace that passeth all understanding, and joy unspeakable and full of glory.
