Extravagant Grace

The last few years, I haven't given something up for Lent because I was already going through a lot. This year, I need to get out of my comfort zone myself. To remove the crutches and look to God to fill that void instead. To find energy, peace, and comfort in the Creator and not the created.

So, for the first time in a long, long time, I gave something up for Lent. Like truly gave it up. And I've been "good" about it. Except, well, I'm finding that I can follow the letter of the law but not the spirit of it. I don't know why I'm surprised.

I'm reading Extravagant Grace with some friends and this page stood out to me today (emphasis mine):

...When the Disney message is loudly proclaimed from the pulpits of well-meaning, Bible-believing churches, it is devastating to God's people. It tells us that if we just have enough faith, we can do or be anything we want to. We may not succumb to the crassest form of this belief that infects many churches, the form that teaches that our faith can make us healthy and wealthy. Yet we often buy into a more subtle form of the same malady. We really believe that if we have enough faith and try really, really hard that we can stop sinning and be just like Jesus. We are taught that it is within our power to allow or inhibit God's work of sanctification in our lives, so that our progress in personal holiness is up to us. If we try harder and cooperate with God, we can succeed and achieve virtual perfection, becoming spiritual princes and princesses. If we choose not to be fully committed to God, however, he is powerless to change us and can't possibly bless us as he longs to do.

That view ascribes fast too much power to people who are actually very weak and fully of sin. God planned it this way, remember? He could have made us strong or even perfect the moment he saved each of us, but he didn't. Instead he sent his Spirit to take up residence in people who are still bound to sinful flesh and full of remaining sin. As God calls us to obedience, he remembers that we are only dust, but we keep forgetting. We think that with a wish, a sprinkle of fairy dust, a great quiet time, and some prayer, we can all be spiritual heroes and do great things for God. We couldn't be more wrong, and as a result, we are devastated when reality crashes into fantasy day after grueling day.

I love, love, love this reminder.

Let's do Lent

Lent. It's not just for Catholics. Let's just say that Lent for the past, oh, 5 years has not been kind to us. God has used the season before Easter to scrape off layers of our mess until finally, last year, we had no choice but to face it. This year, we're looking forward to celebrating instead of mourning. We even decorated with a sweet Lenten calendar from Naptime Diaries!

Lent is simply the 40 day period before Easter, excluding Sundays. "Lent" is the Old English word for spring (yay!). Contrary to popular opinion, Lent is not a Catholic word for "hotbed of Protestant controversy" or "self-flagellation and forced repentance in order to earn righteousness."

If you celebrate Advent in preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus, consider participating in this season set aside for somber consideration of the death and, ultimately, resurrection of Jesus.

Church seasons aren't designed to make us feel inadequate or forced into practice. Rather, they help us rest, worship, and reset out priorities.

Lenten fasting, then, is not a masochistic way for us to pretend that we're suffereing like Christ suffered on the cross. But it can re-orient our hearts toward Jesus. I was so tempted to give up something that would benefit me physically, like banning sugar. But for me, that sounded more like a diet than a fast.  In the end, I had to ask myself: What do I turn to instead of God? What do I lean on in difficult times? What do I spend my free time thinking about?

When I wake up, do I open my laptop first, or my Bible? When I'm so tired and filled with worry, do I pour out my heart to the One who knows my innermost being, or do I try to fill the hole in my heart by filling my stomach with sweet treats? Perhaps, without these crutches, I will learn to lean on God more. I will turn to Him first.

My Lenten fast won't make me holier, but it will point me to the cross. My small sacrifice will whisper of a much larger sacrifice and a saving grace that I could never earn. And when and if I mess up, I can rejoice in the fact that I could not earn my salvation even if I had perfect willpower. The work is already done and there's nothing I can do to deserve that. That's why we celebrate Easter!

Giving something up in and of itself can't bridge the gap between you and God, but it can help us cast down our idols. Are you giving anything up this Lent?