About Lent

I’ve never met a Christian who gets pumped up about the season of Lent. To those of you who enjoy this season, more power to you. To those of you who aren’t like that, don’t worry. I struggle with that as well. But I’ve had some thoughts recently that hopefully will help me, and I want to share them with you to help you out. This way, perhaps you and I both can get something out of Lent this year.

I think one big reason we don’t like Lent is because of the sacrifices and fasts we make during this time. None of us really want to give up something we enjoy or are attached to, or else we would fast more often as a spiritual discipline. We overindulge on the things we’re giving up on Fat Tuesday, because during the week we know we’ll be exposed to the things we sacrificed, and it’ll be tempting to cheat on our promises. So why not gorge yourself with chocolate on Mardi Gras until you’re almost sick? We can’t wait for Easter because then on that day until next Lent we don’t have to sacrifice anything if we don’t want to.

But let’s consider this from the viewpoint of one of the most basic tenets of our faith. God created us out of love and desires to enter into relationship with us. Indeed, He wants to be united with us eternally in heaven, if only we turn towards Him. Therefore, we are creatures in this world, but not of it. We are not meant to be entirely earthbound.

There are a few lines from C.S. Lewis’ book Mere Christianity that come to mind right now. Lewis asserts, “There are all sorts of things in this world that offer to give it to you, but they never quite keep their promise.” Furthermore, he states, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”

I cannot agree with these ideas enough. All the things we give up for Lent are not bad in and of themselves. They are quite nice when we have them. Your favorite song comes on the radio when you’re in the car. You buy something on sale at your favorite store. You come across something good on TV flipping through channels one night. We are a fortunate people, and we should be thankful for what we have.

Yet, at the same time, if we look to these things as the source of our happiness, we are mistaken. We are made for so much more than slavery to our possessions and addictions, than lusting after the various things that bring us pleasure, than our tastes and desires that keep us separated from God and others.

Only God and others can love us back. Soda and candy can’t. Alcohol and tobacco can’t. Your TV can’t. Video games can’t. Facebook can’t. Thus, our greatest freedom as Christians comes from loving God above all things, and letting that be reflected in our relationships with others.

The sluggish state of our economy should back up this point. Part of the reason we got into this mess is because when times were good people coasted on it and spent too much money on things they didn’t need. Now they’ve been cutting back on spending, partially to save money and partially because they’re realizing it’s not worth it to acquire things that won’t fulfill them in the long run.

While you and I hope to have a healthy economy up and running soon, we can learn something from this for our Lenten spiritual journey. We cannot know what it means to have a relationship with the Risen Christ until we have gone bankrupt from our preoccupations with this world, for we cannot truly celebrate Easter lest we understand and appreciate Lent as more than 6 weeks without chocolate and Facebook.