Reason #770
Lent was never something I participated in, which is the usual for all Southern Baptist kids, with the exception of one year. I was in junior high, and I went to Disciple Now, which just happened to fall around the time of Lent. My little group decided that we would all give something up. I decided to give up cokes. Of course, here’s the thing, I am pretty good at practicing self control when I make a public statement that I am not going to do something. I think it’s the “rule-following-perfectionist- hard-headed-deterimation” side of me that makes that happen. And so I made a promise to my little group that I wouldn’t drink cokes for 40 days, which I didn’t. I did, however, substitute cokes out for other things, and after a while I quit missing them. In fact, I quit missing them so much that I didn’t drink a coke for a couple of years. Obviously, that came to a halt when I made the decision to drink a coke again. Now, I rarely go a few days without a coke. But during that 40 days, my life didn’t really change all that much. Giving up soft drinks did nothing for my spiritual life. I’m sure my health improved, but my lack of soda drinking didn’t bring me any closer to the Lord than when I was drinking them. I was doing Lent totally wrong.
I read everyone’s posts last night about what they were giving up. You know, I’ve never understood the concept of Fat Tuesday. Truthfully, every day is like Fat Tuesday for most of us. Rarely do we go around denying ourselves. Usually, we feed our flesh as much as we want because we know grace and forgiveness is extended. And so I have found it odd to dedicated a day to full blown flesh feeding so that one can make it 40 whole days without a particular thing of their choosing that they will pick right back up on day 41. Maybe Lent is much more than denying yourself of things you love. Maybe the purpose that we're overlooking is that our lives should be changed after 40 days. We should look more like Jesus, act more like Jesus, and be a lot closer to Jesus, and that should keep going long after 40 days is up.
What if, the focus of Lent wasn’t about what you were giving up for 40 days but rather what you were gaining by living intentionally for 40 days? Maybe we shouldn’t focus so much on what we aren’t doing, but what we are doing. And maybe, rather than giving things up, we should add things to our lives that will draw us closer to God. After all, the say it only takes 3 weeks to make it a habit. After 40 days, we should be good to go.
Well, I’ve thought and thought today about whether or not I would participate in Lent. I have come to the conclusion that I am not going to give anything up. I am not going to stop eating sugar, drinking cokes, or looking at Facebook. Why? Well, because in the end, I know I’ll end up counting down the days until I can do those very things again, which I will definitely pick back up, and my heart will be in the same place it was. My life won’t have changed any, and so I’m going to stick with what I’m doing. But, I’m going to add to what I’m doing. I’m going to start doing a few things I know I fail miserably at. Things I know are not pleasing to the Lord. Things that will take some serious intentionality. Therefore, I’m following the 40 day challenge, too. A challenge to become more like Christ and less like myself. A challenge to grow in my walk, deepen my faith, and depend on Him because I’m going to need extra doses of help. Forty days where I am going to really have to lean on the Lord for support because it will be near impossible to do on my own. And after forty days of doing this, my hope is that my life will be transformed in such a way that this new challenge will be the new norm. After 40 days, I hope to be a new creation that looks increasingly more like Christ.
Jesus went out into the desert for 40 days. He fasted, He prayed, He was tempted, and He overcame. And the thing is, we can, too. We can overcome anything, and if we can do it for 40 days, we can do it for the rest of our days. With Christ's power working in our lives, we can be completely transformed and changed, and this is a good start. Because after 40 days of depending on the Lord, of constantly seeking Him, of overcoming temptation with His help, we will find that we're in a much better place than we were before. And so for some of us, that means time in the desert. For some of us, that means giving up the things we love. And for some of us, that means doing what we haven't been. As long as we're going towards the Lord and becoming more like Him, we're headed in the right direction.
#770 - For the work His transforming power in our intentional living.
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." - Romans 12:2