Lenten Reflection - Day 3

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

1 Thessalonians 4:17

Additional Reading: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Psalm 51, Philippians 3:13-14

When I was a little girl, the Season of Lent meant one thing to me: Fish on Fridays. My Catholic grandmother would invite us to go with her to Moby Dick or to a fish-fry that her church was having. One time she explained to me that they didn't eat meat on the Fridays leading up to Easter because it helped them remember about Jesus. All of this no-eating-meat-on-Fridays-for-Jesus seemed very peculiar to me. I remember thinking that fish was a type of meatif it isn't meat then what is it? More importantly, I remember thinking, "Does Jesus really care if I eat meat on the Fridays before Easter?"

As I grew in the Lord and started understanding the concept of fasting, denying yourself of something you want in order to pray, remember, or seek God about something, it started to make sense. It wasn't ever about the meat or the fish or the Fridays. It was about the heart. If my Catholic family really wanted meat but said no to it because they really wanted to pray, remember, and seek God about something, then that was and is a wonderful tradition.

This season of Lent will be just a thoughtless tradition to some. But I pray that we can get past the mere tradition of it and let this be a time when we open our ears, our eyes, and our hearts to experience God in a brand new way. This can be a time where God reveals practices and attitudes in our lives that are not pleasing to Him. It can be a time where He shows us how to go deeper in our walk with Him, and how to have victory over situations and hardships we find ourselves in.

Personally, I cannot hear from God and go deeper in my life as a Jesus-follower if I am not maintaining certain disciplines in my life. John Ortberg, in his book The Life You've Always Wanted, describes spiritual disciplines as "any activity that can help me gain power to live life as Jesus taught and modeled it." Denying ourselves things we really want for a specific amount of time is one of these disciplines. Fasting is important to me, because its like I'm saying, "God, every time I reach for that thing I am choosing to deny myself of, I am reaching instead for You." Prayer, solitude, meditation, and praise are some others. Spending time reading and studying the Word of God is to our spirits what a healthy meal is to our bodies. If we want to run the race the Apostle Paul talked about in Philippians 3:14, there are things we have to choose to make a part of our lives.

Today, spend some time asking God what spiritual discipline he might want to use in your life to train and strengthen you for the race. Making those practices part of your life during this season of Lent could be a great start.