Lent - Giving Up

Giving up for legalistic church rituals vs. Giving up to enhance my relationship to God?

 

 

Which is it? We're now two weeks into the Lenten season and I must admit, I do not honor the practice of giving up something for the 40 days before Easter. I feel a little guilty about that. I've always admired my Catholic friends and family who are disciplined in this practice.

 

As a teenager, just when I was coming into the Christian faith for myself rather than echoing my parents' beliefs, I envied my Catholic friends who "gave up" for Lent. I tried it. It had to be something important to me so I tried giving up make-up. I'm embarrassed to say, I didn't last very long. Another year I tried giving up chocolate and that didn't work, either.

 

Believers give up things for Lent to symbolize the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. He sacrificed everything for us, surely we can go without a thing or two to honor him. It's very noble and I wish it were an in-grained part of my Christian life. I suspect it would be very meaningful.

 

What might you and I give up in order to become stronger in our faith?  It would be different for each of us and could be big or small.

• a favorite food
• a favorite activity
• television
• movies
• social media
• gossip
• laziness
• working too many hours

 

The list could go on and on. The specifics are not as important as are the motives of our hearts. We can ask God to show us what hinders our relationship with him and then ask him to help us give up that certain something in preparation for our Easter worship.

An excellent discourse on the Lenten season, its origins, what it means, etc., can be found in a devotional titled, Lent 101. It's from The Upper Room.