Celebrating Lent!

Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. –Psalm 73:25-26

When Lent officially began a couple weeks ago, it might have passed without much notice on your part or you might have been at church getting ashes placed on your forehead, depending on your church and denomination. The church season of Lent, leading from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday, the Saturday before Easter, is meant to be a season of preparation for Easter. Whether you typically celebrate Lent or not, it is wise for each of us as believers to prepare our hearts to celebrate Christ and His resurrection at Easter and every day.

Traditionally, the 40 days of Lent represent the 40 days during which Jesus was in the wilderness and tempted by Satan, found in Mark 1, Matthew 4, and Luke 4. During that time, Jesus fasted, which is why it’s common to give something up, or fast from something, during Lent. Earlier this week I read an article in the paper about the recent popularity of people giving up technology in various forms, such as Facebook, ipods, or even email, during Lent. While I usually think of fasting as going without food, as Jesus did in the passages listed above, the true purpose of the practice is to take our focus off earthly things (like food or Facebook) and to instead focus on God.

So what is your focus right now? In other words, can you truly and honestly repeat the words of the psalmist above: “And earth has nothing I desire besides Christ.” If you can’t, why not? Is there something you ought to fast from?

Here’s an example. About a year ago, I found myself saying one thing with my mouth but doing something else with my actions. I said I wanted to start the day in God’s Word and in prayer. I often started the day with the newspaper instead. You see, I’m a newspaper junkie. I don’t feel like my day is complete until I’ve read the paper from cover to cover. This habit started when I was 11 (yes, I was a nerd!). There’s nothing wrong with reading the paper daily … but my actions were conflicting with my intentions and in essence saying, “And earth has nothing I desire besides Christ … and my daily dose of the news.” Now I hold myself accountable to spending time reading Scripture and talking to God before I take the paper out of its blue rubber band or plastic covering. While this isn't a true fast since I still read my paper daily, it is a shift in focus from the earthly (my newspaper) to the eternal (God and His Word), so it holds true to the purpose of fasting.

In John 3:30, after John’s followers have called it to his attention that this Jesus guy is stealing away some of his disciples, John says, “He must increase; I must decrease.” During this season of Lent (and during every season of your life), pray for God to show you what it is that you desire besides Him and ask Him to reveal any area of fasting that might benefit you, so that by changing your desires and actions you can decrease and He can increase. I pray that Christ and His resurrection will be truly magnified in your life during this Lenten season and beyond!