Lovin' Me Some Lent

Since today is the first day of Lent, I have been thinking about what I am going to "give up" for the next 40 days. But every year when I choose to fast from something I always give up before I make it to Easter. Now this may be due partly to a lack of discipline, but I also think that it stems from something a little deeper: I don't really have a true grasp on Lent and what it means for my personal faith. I want Lent to be a period of time where I am preparing my heart for Easter, so that it may be used as a tool to help me grow in my faith and be more intimate with God. I fear that I have been too caught up in the superficial level of lent where people try to give up chocolate, hoping that Lent will provide them with the motivation they need to properly kick start some diet.


I decided that if I was going to observe Lent this year, I was only going to do so with a truer understanding of the background and meaning of Lent. Then I would prayerfully consider where my heart is and honestly evaluate what my faith life looks like. So, I started researching. And I also found a blog that I am going to follow a Lenten blog that will walk through different passages of scripture each day and provide a reflection to help keep our hearts centered on Jesus. 
(This is the link: http://lentenblogtour.wordpress.com/2011/03/09/march-9-lenten-reflection-matthew-41-11-keith-mcilwain/). 


In my research, I found out some great things about Lent. Lent originated in the early days of the church as preparatory time for Easter It is meant to be a season of soul-searching and repentance, of reflection and taking stock. This is why many people fast and devote themselves more fully to prayer during the Lenten season: so that they may search their hearts and draw closer to the Lord. And here is my favorite part: By observing the 40 days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus' withdrawal into the wilderness for 40 days. 


I decided that I would love to observe Lent this year with the mindset that I am imitating Jesus' withdrawal into the wilderness. This seems especially pertinent in my life right now, because I am realizing that in my busyness I am not allowing myself to withdraw from the world and fully into the presence of the Lord on a regular basis, or very often. The less I am able to do find "alone-time," the more I realize how much I crave it. We are created to be in communion with our Lord and Savior, so we are going to feel unbalanced and weak and weary if we are not continually entering into his presence and tapping into his well-spring of life and restoration. God is our source, so we should be starting our days off spending time with him.


Fasting during Lent is the part everyone knows about, but how many people really take it seriously or have the right motivation in it? I know that I haven't always in the past. Fasting is something that I find very interesting but also do not think I'm very knowledgeable about, so I read a little about fasting. I found this to be very helpful yet challenging:

One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.—Luke 6:12, NIV

We talk about “imitating Christ,” but we only want to imitate whatever He did that fits our tastes.

Some of us are deeply concerned about social issues, so we seek to “imitate Christ” in His concern for the poor and needy. We run homeless shelters and soup kitchens; our churches house AIDS clinics and AA meetings. We rent our building to a start-up congregation, and we have joint services with a different denomination.

Some of us are deeply concerned about moral issues, so we seek to “imitate Christ” in His confrontations with the Pharisees. We picket porno shops and demonstrate about abortion; our churches work with political candidates. We hold youth rallies and family nights to build good values and we hold alternative celebrations for teens where no alcohol is served.

Some of us are deeply concerned with doctrinal orthodoxy, so we seek to “imitate Christ” in His teachings. We give classes in exegetics and Biblical languages; our churches host guest speakers on archaeology and hold public seminars on prophecy. We host trips to the Holy Land and we educate each member on every doctrinal point.

But how many of us retreat to a mountain to pray for a whole night just because we have important decisions to make the next morning?

How many of us fast, as Jesus fasted, as an adjunct to prayer? Jesus never ran a homeless shelter. He never picketed for new legislation. He didn’t start study groups on end-time events. But He prayed all night on the mountain, and once He fasted for forty days. Are we truly imitating Christ, or are we rationalizing our behavior?

This really challenged me to make it a priority to spend time in the quiet of the morning with the Lord every day. There is nothing wrong with me taking time in the afternoon or evening to have my quiet time with God, but there is something different about sitting in the quiet stillness of the morning in the presence of the Lord and beginning your day with him. Mark 1:35 shows us that even Jesus went away to be with God before the day began:

“Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.”

Jesus is our example. Jesus needed time alone with God to recharge, to quiet himself, to be strengthened, and to commune with God. This is the time when he spoke with God and God spoke to him and led his son. If Jesus needs to spend isolated time with God in prayer, then we definitely do too! Also, Jesus did this early in the morning before his day even began and before he even interacted with the disciples or anyone else. Communion with God and being still in his presence was how he started each day.

It is my prayer that I could be disciplined to rise early each morning to be alone with God before starting each day. I am also praying that this will become a practice that I maintain throughout the rest of my life, not only during the seasons when it is easy for me to do so. What a different mindset I would have after allowing God to quiet my heart and speak to me, and after asking him to go before me in everything the day holds for me, trusting him with the details. I want to begin my day with the Lord and I want him to go before me in everything I do. I want to make him a priority and give him the first and greatest part of my day. It is something that I am going to commit to doing for the Lenten season. I will need to continually pray for discipline to go to bed early, to be wise with how I spend my time, and to fight the desire to hit snooze.

I am also going to fast one day a week during Lent so that I may imitate Christ's example in the wilderness. Fasting is a spiritual tool for believers to seek God's presence, because we no longer have Christ here among us on earth as the disciples did. (Luke 1:19, 20): Jesus explains that the disciples do not need to partake in fasting practices while he is with them, because fasting is a practice to seek the presence of God. When Jesus is no longer with them, then they will return to fasting practices to seek the presence that they no longer enjoy in the flesh. I want to use my weekly fasting as an opportunity to be devoted to prayer and seeking the presence of God. I am praying and expecting great things this Lenten season.