Thoughts for Lent: A Little Off-Beat and They May Go Against the Tide Some (#3)
Lent Usually Means that We Give Something Up, Like New Year’s Resolutions. But Could They Really Be Much More Meaningful?
To me, Lent is simply a time to walk ‘The Gospel Road’ more, and not walk ‘The Garbled Roads,’ of which there are so many today.
Lent is a time to pray. But too often we ask for answers when we pray. And too often our prayers are like pity parties. Other times we rag on God and pester him because he hasn’t answered us the way we think he should, and the way we’re entitled to be answered because we are a ‘Christian.’ It’s better to seek intimate fellowship with God when we pray, not answers. If we do we’ll always find Jesus.
Lent should be a time of self-assessment. Where was I last year at this time? Or last month at this time? Or last week at this time? What has changed and what has stayed the same? We all change, but it’s best to be able to see if we change for the better or for the worse. Lent should provide a hint to us as to how we should live compared to how we do live.
Lent is a time we often think should be a time to repent and re-establish our New Year’s Resolutions, and see how we can improve. There is nothing really wrong with this, but it’s not the purpose of Lent. This should be a time when we draw nearer to God — not just wanting something from him, but giving of ourselves to him. It’s a time to remember the cross and why Jesus had to die. It was for us — for you and me. What about the resurrection, which is what we celebrate on Easter? What is it Jesus is doing in us now, versus what he has done or what we want him to do?
Lent is a time to realize if we truly know God’s love for us, or if it is something we think we have to earn by means of our performance and good works. Apostle John says not to love the world or the things of the world, or if we will not know the love of Abba Father God for us. The world is a great place — well, at least part or most of the time. But we should not have a love affair with the world, and love our possessions or people or things we want to possess. Lent should be a time to love God more — because we have more revelation of just how powerful and eternal his love is for us.
Lent should not just be something on your religious calendar, that you give voice to or some obedience to. If it is, you are missing the purpose of Lent. It is a time to connect with God, and then also connect more with our families in things we think about during Lent. The Old Testament has a great verse: “Train up your child in the way he should go…” Let should not be the only time we do this, but it is a good time to do this.
Lent is a time to come to a greater realization of hope because of God’s mercy and grace. Mercy is us not getting what we deserve, and grace is us getting what we don’t deserve. Some think they have no need for the gospel in that they are good enough in themselves. This isa dangerous presumption. Others are deceived that they are not good enough for the gospel: “The gospel is just too good to be true. I can’t believe it. The gospel can’t include me.” Actually, the gospel is so good that it could only be true. Only a loving God could invent the gospel. The gospel is so good that most people who call themselves ‘believers,’ can’t even believe it is true.
Lent is perhaps a time to break the mold. Our world and people in our world judge us, assess us, evaluate us, measure us and compare themselves and others with us. But if we think about it, this is a very human-flesh type perspective. It’s not a spiritual perspective. Apostle Paul says not to know anyone after the flesh. If you read other things he says you know that God doesn’t know us after our flesh either. In one sense, I think that he only sees two types of people on earth, even with about 7 billion of us: (1) those in Christ, and (2) those not in Christ.
Lent is a time to repent and forsake what is bad, and embrace and attach to what is good. This is how many see it. It isn’t a bad thing. But what is better is that we see Lent as a time to be free and at liberty from bondage to what we should do and shouldn’t do — so we can attach to Jesus more. The purpose of Lent is to wake us up from a bad dream and cause us to live the abundant life of Jesus more — of course living it with him. Is there any barrier between us and God that we could break down, climb over or walk around?
Lent is a time of readjustment. Psalms say to delight in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. If we are truly living in him, our desires won’t be that far off-kilter from his because the closer we are to him the more he plants his desires in our hearts. How can we align our desires to be more like God’s? It’s actually quite simple but not so easy because most of us are, as psychology says, narcissistic. We want our own way, period. The best way I know is just to be still, know he is God and listen to him.
Lent is not just a time to repress our pleasures. It should also be a time to increase our pleasures and perhaps even have a glass of wine if it is not unhealthy for us to do so. Jesus said he’d drink wine with believers in heaven. Lent should also be a time to enjoy new things we haven’t known and increase our enjoyment of them. As long as we are not driven by lust or cravings, and are in love with God, new things aren’t wrong. God’s a God of infinite variety. If we apply legalism to him he doesn’t like it much.