Firstly, apologies for the delay in this post and I hope that you are all having an inspired Lenten season so far.
Yes, for those who didn't realise yet - we are now in the season of Lent. It's a time where generally
people give up a lot of stuff, then go into a period of mourning over the loss of what they had like they've lost a loved one!
Now before anyone gets offended by that last sentence, I wasn't being serious and it's certainly not the truth. Sometimes however, the way people act during Lent can make it seem like this and to be honest, while it's ok to have some self pity, too much of it, especially during Lent, can take away from the real value of the season.But wait you might be asking, isn't the value of Lent to give up something so that we can feel pain in our hearts due to the sacrifice we make?
The answer is well, no, it's not. The problem is that this is what we think Lent is all about - however it's about something so much more.
The scriptures say in Matthew 6:16-18
"And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you."
In this passage, Jesus shows us two things:
- We need to be humble when fasting and giving in sacrifice
- There is more to fasting than just the act of giving up something, otherwise Jesus would be telling us to look sad so that everyone could see us.
So if we are meant to act normally when we sacrifice something, then why are we sacrificing at all? Isn't the aim of sacrifice to show how we're giving up something for a greater good?
Well the answer to that is yes, sacrifice is meant to show how we're giving up something for the greater good - but not to others, rather to our own hearts and souls.
I remember growing up at Lent, I use to give up all sorts of things. Gave up chocolate, pizza, ice cream and so much more. I even remember one year giving up being mean to people.
The problem was though, that come Easter Sunday, I'd either gorge on food, or get back into bad habits pretty quickly and to me, it seemed like Lent then became a pointless exercise, much in the same way a person feels after having done six weight loss diets and seeing no result.
The thing that was missing though, was that every time I sacrificed something, I didn't do it with any purpose in mind. I just decided I'd sacrifice something because it's what you do at Lent.
The real value of Lent is that our sacrifice is meant to draw us closer to God, not just through being able to experience the sacrifice Jesus felt on the cross, but through making us focus on areas of our lives that we wouldn't normally take time to focus on when there's other distractions in our lives.
Now that's a big thought there, so let me simplify it a little. Say for example you are fasting from food during days of Lent -whenever you feel hungry, instead of focusing on how hungry you are, you can think about how people around the world have to live like this everyday, or how you value food over things that perhaps have more importance like family or God's will in your life.
The aim of sacrifice for God is not to experience pain, it's to discover that what we have that's earthly is meaningless compared to what God call us to and what he wants us to be. Growing in compassion, increasing in mercy or gaining value in the God given gifts of life are all part of the real value of giving more of the self to God during Lent.
The thing is though, we can't give more of ourselves if we are cluttering our minds with all sorts of stuff from the world. It's why we need times like Lent, to be able to have the idea of giving to God at the forefront of our minds and to take time away to really focus on God and his amazing work in our lives. Even though we might be giving up something small or taking up something more on top of what we have (more on that in weeks to come), what he has in store for us from doing that in a faithful way is so much more rewarding than what we gave up could ever be.
I wish you all the very best for whatever decisions you make during this Lenten season and may God continue to bless you always.
Till next time...
