Lent is the time of year when many followers of Jesus give stuff up. The motive is to honor him for his sacrifice for us, and to advance one's spiritual life by self-denial. Matthew 16:24 is the context for this: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."
Last year I gave up desserts and television. I believe I grew through the process. It focused my attention on Jesus through those six weeks.
This year I gave up desserts. (Yes, I wanted to see some March Madness this year.) I found my journey through Lent was different this year. While I wanted to pursue Jesus more intimately, I found my attention was focused more on wanting dessert. The practice of giving up dessert did not help me draw near to Jesus.
Lesson learned. Every spiritual discipline is a tool intended to move us closer to Jesus. But as with many tools, not each tool is suited to every task. You would not try to turn a nut with a hammer. (Well, some of us might.) Not every tool in the spiritual discipline toolkit is equally helpful all the time. For me this year, skipping dessert was simply an exercise in self-restraint. While that is a good thing, it still did not move me toward Jesus. I stuck it out because I am a stick-it-out kind of person (a.k.a., a rule-keeper), but my spiritual life might have benefited had I jettisoned the original goal and focused on something different, for example, morning prayer or fasting.
Perhaps you have tried certain spiritual disciplines and become frustrated because they don't "work" for you. On one hand, that might be an indicator that you need more work in this area. On the other, perhaps you get discouraged because you think you are just not good at living this Christian life. That might not be true at all. If you are growing in love for others and in the knowledge of God's word and in the gift of generosity, for example, maybe this one area of discipline is not where God is moving you today. Perhaps down the road it will be helpful to you. Perhaps not. At any rate, the goal of practices such as Lent is to move toward Jesus. Practice what achieves that goal.
See you at the resurrection celebration. Then I'm having a cookie.
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