On Lent

Hello people!

Every month I make a personal goal to write/blog/journal more. Every month I fail. My last blog post was in January and it’s now March. Pray that I gain the motivation to actually get myself on here & writing when I have an idea instead of saying “oh hey, that would make a great blog post, I should totally get on that…” and never actually doing it.

Speaking of praying (always with the smooth transitions), let’s talk about L E N T. 

Ah yes, the good old lenten season…where people of faith everywhere decide to cut out sweets, television, alcohol, or even caffeine (seriously, hats off to THOSE pious people) for 40 days in observation of the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert. One of my first memories of actually understanding lent growing up is when I was about 12 or 13 and I gave up my favorite TV show. Any guesses for what that show could have been?

Full House.

Yep, that’s right. My daily 4:00 date with ABC Family before it was Freeform. The 80’s classic. My pre-teen self looooved the cheesy family moments, the corny jokes, and the ridiculous fashion. I ate it all up with my cheese-its and Oreos after school. But once I realized what this whole lent thing was all about, I chose to endure 40 whole days without Danny Tanner, Uncle Jessie, Joey, and the fam.

 

You may think that, like many lent-observers, I gave into temptation & aborted mission midway through, but I actually didn’t! I made it through the entire season completely ignoring that 4:00 cable listing and watching something else instead (I was a VERY determined teenager).

And what was the first thing I did once lent was over? Watch Full House. Binging wasn’t a thing back then but if it had been, I totally would’ve spent my Easter binging that show until my eyeballs fell out of my head.

And this right here is the problem that SO many of us have with lent.

Something really great that our church does is something called Leap of Faith. Leap of Faith happens yearly during lent, and typically gives you a few suggestions of daily changes you can make to bring you closer to God. Some of these things include choosing 5 people who are far from God & praying for them daily, choosing a big prayer of faith to pray daily, reading through Hebrews (particularly Hebrews 11), and mapping out your spiritual journey to identify pivotal points in your life.

But the traditional concept of giving something up for lent isn’t lost in our church. The bigger question is A. is giving something up crucial to observing lent properly? and B. how do we choose what to give up, and what do we replace it with?

Yesterday in small group, my husband had some words regarding the traditional concept of giving something up for lent, namely: Why do we always talk about giving something up as if it’s the only way toward salvation? Just because you give up Starbucks for 40 days doesn’t mean you aren’t just drinking Wawa coffee instead. And after the 40 days is up? You’re just going to go right back to drinking Starbucks again as if nothing happened. So what is gained from that? Who actually becomes closer to God through that practice?

If you know my husband at all, you know this is typical Shane. He loves the Lord & is the most kind-hearted & Christ like man, yet is unapologetic when it comes to some of the ridiculous proclamations of the modern church as a whole. Sometimes people are taken aback by his approach. Usually though, he’s totally right.

The point here isn’t to say that fasting from something is meaningless…Jesus DID fast from food & drink for 40 days, after all. What determines whether any spiritual practice is meaningless or not is the intent behind it. Are you giving up something for lent because it’s what “good Christians” do? Are you doing it because you think you’ll earn religious points if you do? Or are you doing it to grow closer to the Holy Spirit by replacing that thing with something more beneficial? These are the questions we need to be asking as we enter the lenten season.

Yet even as we do this, we are bound to a responsibility to let the spirit lead us in this endeavor rather than the mounting pressure of our peers; Mark 1:10 says that after Jesus was baptized

“…he saw Heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from Heaven ‘You are my Son, whom I love, with you I am well pleased.’

At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness.”

 

At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness.

We’re talking about Jesus Christ himself here, folks. After he was baptized by John he didn’t decide to fast because he “should” or because he felt obligated to do so. The Bible doesn’t say that Jesus decided to venture into the wilderness because he had just been baptized and it was *probably* the right thing to do…no, it says the spirit sent him. 

As Christians it is imperative that we seek direction from the Holy Spirit as we strive to live a life that is pleasing to Him. If we choose to fast from something (for lent or just because), it is important that we allow the spirit to lead us into something greater to fill the void that is left by the thing being given up. Television isn’t bad, but giving it up can allow for more time to journal or read scripture. Social media isn’t bad, but giving it up can open up more time in the day to put God first.

Food and water isn’t bad, but Jesus temporarily gave it up to pull himself closer to the Father.

If we go into Lent with the right intentions for our daily adjustments, then by the end of the 40 days our minds and bodies will no longer crave the satisfaction of those things as a natural consequence. Going back to the thing you gave up once lent is over doesn’t mean we aren’t faithful, but our mindset at the arrival of Easter tells a greater story of our willingness to follow where the Spirit leads us.

Peace & love during this season,

B.