A few weeks ago, in our staff meeting we were talking about giving up things for lent, what each of us were giving up, and how we were doing with that. And we started talking about why we give certain things up. Sometimes we give up things that we already aren’t doing, so lent is pretty easy. Sometimes it’s to live a healthier lifestyle or break a bad habit.
But one thing I think we all agreed on is that we shouldn’t give something up just for the sake of suffering. We don’t fast for the sake of feeling hungry. There has to be something more to it than that. When we give up something for lent, it’s to tear down those idols in our lives. It’s to get rid of the things that are taking us away from God. But don’t just create a void. Fill that empty space with Jesus. That’s where the spiritual discipline of fasting comes from, it’s to help us focus on Jesus. Replacing our feasts with our daily bread. Replace reading through Facebook with reading through scripture. Replace that habit with devotion. Replace that sin with worship.
Hebrews 12—which has become one of my favorite passages in scripture—puts it this way, that we should “set aside, or cast off, every weight and the sin that clings so closely to us. And let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising its shame. And is now seated at the right hand of God.” During Lent, we set aside our weights and sin. So that we can better run the race of faith.
Something else I want to draw your attention to is the end of that passage. we look to the cross as suffering, because Jesus suffered. But more than that Hebrews gives us the image, of Jesus looking to the cross with Joy. The cost was unspeakable, but Jesus endured with Joy. Because getting us back was invaluable.
Jesus endured the worst this world has to offer. He knew grief and loss and, certainly, pain. And if our God endured it all with joy, then it makes it a little easier for us to endure. This world gets a little lighter. In a world that is full of pain and suffering, I pray we find joy and the peace that surpasses all understanding. Amen.
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