Lent: Pressure on Purpose
Let me ask you something. When was the last time you woke up on a Saturday morning, the entire day before you with no commitments and decided to clean out your garage or closet? Pull absolutely everything out, get rid of what doesn't belong, and organize what remains into useful systems? Yeah, me neither.
In today's world, nothing just happens without first having a slot on the calendar. Even the things we enjoy doing like date night and time with our children don't happen without a plan. That goes doubly for the things we don't want to do. Think about it. How overdue is your dental cleaning?
The ancient church knew this would be a temptation. That's why our spiritual ancestors designated the 40 days before Easter (not counting Sundays) as Lent. I know,I know your eyes just glazed over in boredom, but stick with me. I am going somewhere with this. It's a time staked out on the calendar for reflection, prayer and fasting. It's a time for a spiritual closet cleaning. We ask God to show us our blind spots or those habits and thoughts that are holding us back from maturing.
No, you won't find the word "Lent" in the Bible and maybe you’re afraid I've lead you down some rabbit hole of tradition worship, but all throughout scripture leaders earmarked time for prayer, fasting and reflection. In Exodus, when God led the Israelites out of Egypt and through a process of becoming an independent nation, He specifically commanded them to observe times of remembering, fasting and praying. The Day of Atonement found in Leviticus 23:26-32 was set aside as a time of facing one's sin and recognizing how much we need a savior. During the Feast of Tabernacles in Leviticus 23:33-34, Israelites spend a week living in tents to remember how God delivered them from hopeless circumstances.
Commands to repent, fast and prayer continue all over the New Testament. But we come back to the problem of having no sacred time to make these happen. Throw in a culture that will not rearrange it's schedule for our spiritual needs, and I wonder sometimes how we ever get around to growing in our faith.
This is especially important for long-term believers. We hear words like "sin" and "repentance" and think of what life was like years ago when sin stained everything we did. Or worse yet, we thing of our friend who really needs to spend time U-turning from a sin costing her dearly. Observing Lent every year forces me to look at my own life through a microscope and see where the spiritual cobwebs have taken over.
Forty days of dedicated prayer and reflection have an unwelcome way of reminding us we still have a lot of maturing to do. If reading a 5 minute devotion every morning seems like an impossible burden, how close is my relationship to God? If going without sugar for 40 days has me tumbling in temper tantrums, is this a sign I've created an idol? If I'm unwilling to rearrange some time to lead devotions for my family, is God really my first priority?
Are you wondering how this looks in day-to-day life? Christians going through Lent typically give something up that we suspect has become an idol, or we incorporate a new habit to strengthen our walk with Christ. I went through a similar period this last winter. I love getting my nails and hair done. I'm at an age where I'm having to decide between letting the grey slowly take over or getting what used to be my natural color out of a bottle. But slowly I began to wonder where my confidence was coming from. Could I boldly pursue my callings in life with ragged nails and outgrown roots? I decided to go a few weeks to find out. It was definitely a time of reevaluating the source of my strength. After a time, I was still able attend meetings, meet new people and write about God's goodness no matter the state of my manicure. I know it sounds silly, but we humans can make an idol out of anything. Point is, purposefully removing habits out of your life will quickly let you know how dependent you've become on them.
The flip side of the coin is adding a healthy practice into our daily lives. Adding in a 5 to 15 minute devotion first thing in the morning seems simple enough, until you have to find a way to dust the morning fog out of your brain to understand what you are reading. Then you realize the mindset that goes behind putting God first.
Are these practices necessary for salvation? Of course not. Any Christian who tells you that if you don't observe Lent then you are not a true Christian is woefully wrong. God loves us with absolutely no qualifications. You could go your entire life never having set aside concentrated time for prayer and fasting and still go to heaven. But taking time to examine your spiritual life will give you such a deeper understanding of who Christ is to you that you will want to do it again.
So where is grace in all this? Ironically, in every day of Lent. The more we try to clean ourselves up, the more tangled we become in our sin. Soon we realize we can never be good enough, strong enough, self disciplined enough to save ourselves. Jesus' saving grace is there in every moment of failure. When I come to the end of my willpower, I realize how little I can do. I need Jesus to cheer me on when I succeed and pick me up when I fail. No one else can love me through all the struggling and triumphs.
If you've never set aside a specific time to concentrate on prayer and reflection, this Lenten season is a great time to begin. You will find out some less that flattering things about yourself, but you'll also discover how strong God is and how much Jesus fights for you. By Easter you will know where you need to make some changes, and more importantly just how precious Jesus' resurrection is to you right now.
~Denyse Blasdel
~Denyse Blasdel
