what are YOU giving up for Lent?

We have entered into the Lenten season. There is no time that is more soul searching for a follower of Jesus than this next 40 days. The conversation is often initiated by the standard...”what are you giving up for Lent?”. I didn't grow up in a churched family nor did I have many, if any, Catholic friends to clue me in on the giving up season. At my house things were more focused on Easter eggs, chocolate “hollow” rabbits and ham for Easter dinner. Oh yeah, dressing up on Easter and getting the requisite pics of a dorky kid with a Easter basket. It wasn't until very many years later I learned about everything that happened historically during the time of Jesus and events leading up to His death, burial and resurrection. I will have to say I got it in little bits and pieces and slowly processed the entire picture. I, however still didn't get the whole Lent thing until I became an adult and every year I gain some new insight. This year will be no different I am sure... Last year I went to see this tremendously theatrical production of a very compressed version of these 40 days at a local church renown for this pageant. It was extremely well done and very emotionally charged and provocative. I actually felt disgust for the Roman soldiers as they arrogantly walked by in front of me. They were TOTALLY in character. In 2004 the movie The Passion of the Christ came out and I have to admit I did not see it until about 2007. I found it to be practically unbearable to watch the first time I saw it. Yeah...of course...I cried...a lot. I remember being on a mission trip in the Dominican Republic with Victory Christian Center in 2008 and they showed a scene from The Passion on a giant screen on stage during a nightly evangelical crusade. I looked around and the people were completely spellbound. No one moved...no one spoke...all eyes were on the screen. At the end of the scene more people than I could count were weeping and praising Jesus...powerful. I can only imagine if they could see the entire film. I get the concept of giving something up for lent...or fasting...making a sacrifice...refocusing attention on Jesus...40 Days of Water. As I always fast completely for a lengthy period at the beginning of the year...no food...no TV...it seems a little anti climatic to fast 6 days a week...take a break Sundays and resume for 40 days. It just all seems so contrived and legalistic with lots of rules and regulations and different interpretations of what is the right way and a lot of focus on self. I don't think that is really what is intended when we fast and pray. In Matthew 6: 16-18, it says,

“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Observing the season of Lent is a way that we can place ourselves before God humbled and broken bringing nothing of our own doing enabling ourselves the ability to purchase our salvation. It is a way for us individually to confess our total inadequacy and dependency on a sovereign and all providing God and to strip away all pretenses of debilitating prideful righteousness. It is a way to empty ourselves of our foolish false pride, of our rationalizing and blindness that prevent us from seeing ourselves as needy creatures, of our perfectionist tendencies that cause unmet expectations that weakens our faith. So...let's see...what could I possibly give up for Lent. Chocolate...uh...no. TV...don't watch enough to be sacrificial. Perhaps we all should dig a little deeper into what really is taking time away from Jesus...what is keeping your prayers short and generic?...what is keeping you from reading the Bible?...what is competing against your relationship with Jesus? I promise that there is something... I know there is for me. There always is something...I have a very hard time with focus and being single minded about something. That's a lot of the reason why I fast every year at the beginning of the year...it sets the tone for the year. It's like any kind of training you would do for an upcoming sporting event...What Jesus requires is no different. He wants singlemindness and dedication to purpose. The season of Lent is all about penitence and reflection and forgiveness of self and others. Being mindful of our sins and shortcomings and trying to listen to what God is speaking to us...trying to teach us. So, as you can see there is much we can give up and there is much work to be done to facilitate healing. So...yeah...I have plenty of stuff that I can give up besides peanut M & Ms and vanilla cokes and mediocre TV... I can give up my cleverly disguised pride and creeping...at times...unbelief that God really hears me when I whisper... help me...I can give up my need to fail sometimes...when others are praying so hard for me to succeed. I can give up my penchant to judge others...even if in the tiniest seemingly insignificant ways. I guess that's enough to keep me busy for 40 days...thankfully I get Sundays off...