If you have ever worked with a personal trainer or a physical therapist, you know that at the first meeting you go over your history - any injuries, habits, etc. - that have caused you to need to work with a professional. Next you talk about and set goals for your time together. Maybe you want to be able to lift certain amounts of weight, or are training for an athletic competition. Maybe you’re about to get married and want to look a certain way on your honeymoon. Often the trainer or therapist creates a plan for you to reach your goals, and generally speaking, because you are paying them a significant amount of money, you are highly motivated to follow their plan, even when that plan involves giving up something you love. Our desires and motives inform our behavior.
Ash Wednesday is just two days away. Many of us have made a commitment to fast from something over the Lenten season. How are you feeling about this commitment? Are you already feeling anxious as you wonder how you will resist temptation for that long? Are you picturing your stomach aching and actually growling so loud that it is interrupting meetings at work? Wondering how you will be able to get to sleep if you can’t watch that show that lulls you to sleep each night? If so, you are in good company! And really, that is the whole point of the Lenten fast - to come to terms with our frailty as humans, to acknowledge that we can’t do this on our own.
Experiencing true hunger and thirst, really abstaining from anything that we are dependent on, magnifies our heart’s motivation. This is why Jesus told his disciples in his famous Sermon on the Mount:
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 5:16-18)
If we observe a Lenten fast for any other reason than to follow Jesus in His sufferings, we will quickly give up. The goal for these next weeks cannot be to lose weight in a godly looking way. It cannot be used as penance, to absolve ourselves from a sin that we have allowed to have a stronghold over us, or to develop some better habits. It is not to pick back up our failed attempt at a New Year’s resolution. Motivation matters.
Half-Full or Half-Empty?
Would you consider yourself a Glass Half-Full or Glass Half-Empty person? Do you tend towards idealism or realism? Grace or Law? Mercy or Justice? Black and White or Shades of Gray? The position from which you view and interpret the gospel and the world will absolutely affect the way you approach observing Lent. We will lean more towards (1) needing to observe our fast commitment perfectly or (2) regarding it as legalistic garbage that Jesus set us free from, throwing the entire exercise
(including this devotional) in the trash can. Oh wait, this is on your phone or laptop…certainly do not throw your device in the trash and please don’t unsubscribe!!
Christ’s Example
Whether you are a purist and plan to follow your Lenten fast to the smallest detail or are pretty sure you will look for every loophole you can find to have that ____________ (you fill in the blank) in the middle of the afternoon, I want to encourage you that this is exactly what you are supposed to be feeling and experiencing. This is how we begin to identify with our Lord in his sufferings.
Because it is hard to abstain and go without, it is important for us to reflect on our Lord and Savior’s example from Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi:
Jesus… “existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death - even to death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8)
Big Picture Question for Today:
Honestly check your motivation for fasting, whether for lent or other purposes, like needing clear direction from the Lord on a big decision. How have your desires informed your behavior?
Pray, first confessing any fear that committing to a Lenten fast has surfaced in you. Then ask God through His Spirit to strengthen you by His power and feast on His true and good Word.
