Give It Up!

Last Wednesday began Lent, the time from Ash Wednesday until Easter when Catholics traditionally give something up in honor of God and discipline themselves by withholding certain luxuries/vices. For about five years now, I have been quite intrigued with the concept. I have never been strong in the area of will power and I am not an overly disciplined individual. So, in the past I just thought, Lent, that's a great concept, but then did nothing about it. Well, this year a good friend put a challenge on her facebook page that people would seriously consider this discipline this year. I decided it was time to take the plunge, and I decided to give up most sweets (candy, cakes, cookies, desserts, etc). I allow myself to have soda because it helps with headaches that I get quite regularly. Otherwise almost all sweets are off limits. I would like to take a few minutes to share some of what I've been learning this first week.

For starters, I was amazed those first couple days how often I went for sweets without even realizing I was doing it. For example, I started eating a Fiber One breakfast bar that is drizzled w/ chocolate. I took one bite and thought, hey, this is pretty much a candy bar for breakfast, even if it's somewhat healthier, it's still a chocolate fix. So, I didn't finish it. Then the next day my husband and I went out for Chinese food and we got our fortune cookies at the end. I of course grabbed mine, bit in and started to chew, suddenly realized it was a "cookie" and spit it out. Examples like that made me think about areas of sin in my life. Sometimes our sin becomes such a comfortable part of everyday life that we aren't even aware we are doing it until we "take a big bite." I find myself thinking selfish thoughts, starting to show anger or sarcasm to my kids, or judging a brother or sister in Christ. I have to literally stop myself and "spit it out." I have to call a spade a spade and stop doing the thing I know is wrong. I love the verse, 2 Corinthians 10:5, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." When I sin, it almost always begins as a thought or attitude, and I must stop and say, "This is not true, what God says about _______ is true, and that truth is ________." We really must control our thoughts and as the verse says make them obedient to Christ. If we don't catch them in the early stages, it will lead to major disaster.

Another thing I've learned so far from the practice of Lent, is that other people are not responsible to help me hold to my convictions. For example, this past weekend I went with my husband, the youth pastor, to a youth retreat. Around 400 students and leaders at a camp in Wisconsin. Well, as I'm sure you can guess, there were sweet treats everywhere. Homemade cookies, ice cream bar, desserts, cinnamon rolls, and more were plentiful. People around me, some who knew that I was giving up sweets, were deeply enjoying their sugary goodies. There was even some oohing and ahhing and discussions on which dessert was best. I had to realize that no one was being mean or trying to trip me up by what they were doing. Plain and simply, they had not given up sweets for Lent, and they were welcome to eat whatever they chose. Similarly in our walk with Christ, we have certain convictions that he has placed on our hearts. We are accountable to God for the choices we make regarding those convictions, even if no one else feels convicted in such a manor. In addition, we must understand that others are not wrong or sinful if they are engaging in behaviors that are not sinful according to God's word, even if God may have called us to restrain from that behavior.

Finally, God is teaching me more about the concept of praying without ceasing. Every time I see sweets or think about how good some chocolate would taste, I try to pray instead. It is just a reminder to me how often we think about things of this world and our own selfish desires, and how I should be spending more time and effort focusing on things above.

Well, it's only been one week and I have about five or six to go. I am looking forward to learning more and becoming more disciplined. I would encourage everyone to consider some aspect of the discipline of fasting in your own life.