Hey Church. We’ve got something so wrong, and I don’t think the Spirit is gonna let me sleep until I share some truth with yall. I pray that our eyes can be opened to what the Bible proclaims instead of blurred by what the church-going masses over the centuries have accepted as custom.
Ash Wednesday is tomorrow, and I’m struck with a question. Do we really GET Lent?? A lot of us assume that it’s a time right before Easter that is meant to make us suffer like Jesus did. But guess what? Jesus wore thorns on his head, got spit in the face, and died slowly with nails through His hands and feet. Oh, you’re giving up chocolate? Nice. Our Savior never sinned, but He paid for every sin. Here we are complaining about paying a little extra for gas these days…I don’t think we’re really ready to take on the concept of paying for the sins of the entire human race. Much less, paying for it with our own blood. The beautiful thing is that we don’t have to because He did it for us. And an even MORE beautiful thing is that we can never possibly match His sacrifice!
I believe that when we “give up” distractions that pull us away from the Cross, God can meet us in our wimpy “sacrifices” and teach us powerful lessons through the process of fasting from cravings of the flesh. But God doesn’t rejoice when my head is throbbing from a caffeine headache due to fasting coffee…He desires for my heart to take one look at Jesus and for my knees to hit the floor and for my entire LIFE to be lived in “obedience that comes from faith” (Romans 1:5). Not just 40 days right before Easter, but every day of my life, of your life, of our lives together, should be a time of fasting.
Does that mean you have to give up dessert forever?? Thank the Lord, NO. It’s not a physical fast, but one of the heart. Listen to what God says in Isaiah 58: “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice, and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”
Did you know this piece of truth was there??! I didn’t. I’ve been in the Church for eighteen years and I’ve always believed I had to give up chocolate cake to “get closer to God” before I could really understand or appreciate Easter. Truth changes everything. According to God in Isaiah, the fasting He commands spells it out clearly that I must break chains, cook meals, share shelter, give away clothes, and love the family He has placed around me. So pretty much, I can start obeying Him by giving away every ounce of myself to others for God’s glory. It still doesn’t compare, but God’s kind of fasting is getting a teensy bit closer to Jesus’ sacrifice, don’t you think?
My world is officially turned upside-down. Yet there’s ANOTHER beautiful thing that should not be overlooked before we buckle up and move on into the Lent season. Get this: the Isaiah passage doesn’t end in commands. As it continues, God actually promises that if you fast in these ways out of obedience from faith, “then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer, you will cry for help, and He will say: Here am I.” You know what that sounds like to me? It sounds like we will be resurrected from our broken, self-serving, disobedient lives in order to point to God’s glory…maybe reflecting how JESUS was resurrected from death in order to point to God’s glory.
I hope this new perspective on fasting blows your mind to a gazillion pieces! Mine most definitely is. If you’re still debating right now whether to give up facebook or your iPod for Lent, go read Isaiah 58 for yourself and let it change you. Let’s see where the Spirit takes us in this. Maybe we’ll still be led to give up physical possessions and comforts, but maybe our hearts will finally learn to LOVE through this Lent, this sacrifice, this obedience, this faith.
Hallelujah?? Yes. Hallelujah.
Empty Jars 