For many years, for reasons beyond my ability to recall, I had misunderstandings about Lent.  Actually, I was sarcastic about the whole idea.  I would often give up liver, castor oil and anything else that I didn’t really like anyway.  I thought the whole thing was a joke…or worse, I thought maybe it was another lie about “working one’s way to heaven.”  I’m sure there are people who think they can gain God’s favor by giving up something they like but such an idea has no Scriptural support.  We cannot do enough to gain God’s favor; we simply get to receive it by faith.  Jesus Christ did all the “hard work” on the cross and by faith we receive the benefits.  So if Lent is not an attempt to gain favor from God, what could possibly be the point?

You can study the history of Lent in the Library or on the Internet; my interest is more basic.  I’ll leave the thorough analysis of the events of the official church calendar to the historians.  I simply want to say that I think there is some good to the idea of Lent.  People have abused almost everything that was intended for good so I am not surprised that Lent has been abused.  What I am surprised about is that we have missed the benefits.

I often told my boys when they were young, “A choice to do one thing is also a choice to not do something else.”  This culture says we can have it all and do it all and that is a lie from the pit.  Attempting to live like that has made us…not just the pagans…but us, shallow and frenzied people unprepared for a difficult life.    If we just go about doing whatever is easy and convenient we will be weak, frail and unprepared people.  However, if we set aside some of the things that are good in order to pursue what is best, we might just find our character changing by the power of the Holy Spirit.[1] If we read and meditated more and spent less time watching TV or updating our status on Facebook, we might just have clearer thoughts about what life is about and how to live it.  If we decided to say no to some things that the people of this world suggest we “have to have” and we lived more intentionally, we might “have what we need to give to those in need.”

Don’t give up something to make God happy.  He’s the happiest Being in the universe.  Don’t give up something to impress your friends (Jesus had something to say about that J).[2] However, if it is real life you want, you will have to set aside something to gain it.  We cannot keep adding to an otherwise full plate.  You don’t have to do anything to get God’s attention—you have it.  The question is, “Does He have your attention?”  Choosing to be quiet before Him, to spend more time in His word  or good books, to listen to soul edifying music etc are all ways to bring life to the soul because it causes us to draw near to God.

If you are only giving up Twinkies because you want to lose a few pounds before Easter, just call it a diet and have a carrot instead.  However, if it is God you want, it is God you can have.  You will find Him when you seek for Him with all your heart.[3] How much junk is in the way of your pursuit of Him?  Could you jettison some of that to draw near to Him?  He promises to draw near to you if you’ll make the effort to accept His invitation.[4]

In John 21:15-17 we'll study an interesting exchange of words between Jesus and Simon Peter.  Some scholars minimize the differences in the words used in the text but I think there is a tender conversation recorded with some nuance of meaning that we should not miss.  Of course, even without the tools to study the ancient languages one could understand what is happening in the text.  Jesus was asking questions to expose the heart of Peter.  Jesus' questions always get to the "heart of the matter."  In this case the questions focus on love...not God's love for us but our love for Jesus Christ.  There are ways to know if we love Him or not.  In the text Jesus is being tender with Peter because of his recent failure.  Peter had been over confident but the experience he had of denying Christ was helpful in bringing Him to a more realistic place in His life.  Jesus reaffirmed the plans He had for Peter, which should be a real encouragement to all of us who have failed.  Who better than the broken, wounded and restored to restore the broken and wounded lambs of the Savior.  Do you love Jesus enough to feed His sheep and care for His lambs? It is a probing question and not one we should answer lightly.