The season of Lent is a time of fasting and self-denial as people repent from sin and reflect on Jesus’ death and resurrection. Self-denial, fasting and repenting of sin are all biblical practices with biblical guidelines and exhortations. Each of these spiritual actions – when properly motivated – can draw our hearts closer to God.
Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23b). Repentance and self-denial are a daily practice for Christians and should not be reserved for six weeks out of the year. Christians are called to put Christ first in all things, not self. This is a daily struggle for Christians who desire to honor God, yet wrestle against the sinful flesh.
If Christians are not actively drawing closer to the Lord, then they are passively slipping further away from Him. Often, distance forms in relationships by passiveness. Imagine two close friends who spoke to each other every day, often for over an hour. As time went on, life got busy and they skipped a day. Then they talked just once a week. Then just once a month. Then just a couple of times a year. They never had a disagreement or quarrel; they passively drifted due to a lack of intentionality.
God never moves away from us. He is active and intentional in His relationship with us. Throughout Scripture, we see God constantly initiating conversations and relationships. Truly, the heart of the Gospel is not about humanity working its way up to God but of God coming down to rescue us from our sins. Thus, any distance in our relationship with God is on our part. Just as the prodigal came to himself in the pig pen and remembered his father’s loving heart, we too need to return and repent when there is a distance between us and God.
Fasting, self-denial and repentance are meant to draw us closer to the heart of God. Sadly, some people perform these spiritual actions with the wrong motivation. They attempt to earn something from God through their giving, praying, fasting and self-denial. As a result, they become prideful in their pseudo-spirituality. Self-centered religious legalism replaces God’s grace and love.
Jesus warned against this in His Sermon on the Mount:
“Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly” (Matt. 6:16-18).
In this section of His sermon, Jesus warned against empty religious exercises intended to impress others. He encouraged people to look as normal as possible when they fasted so they would not receive people’s praise and be puffed up with religious pride.
I consider the next three verses to be the heart of this section from the Sermon on the Mount.
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:19-21).
If we give, pray and fast for the approval of others, then we have laid up treasures on Earth. However, if we honor God in the way we do these spiritual activities, we can lay up treasure in heaven. But what kind of treasure in heaven? Are we talking about rewards or salvation?
This is where the lines of distinction regarding Lent must be drawn. Spiritual disciplines of any kind will not and cannot earn us more of God’s love and grace. Ephesians 2:1-10 explicitly states these truths. Consider two verses from this passage: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Earned grace is a contradiction in terms. It can only be received. Spiritual disciplines and actions, understood and practiced correctly, are motivated as a worshipful response to what God has already done for us.
Reflecting on Jesus’ death and resurrection reminds us of His cry from the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The debt of sin was paid in full through the blood of the spotless and sinless Son of God! As John the Baptist proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29b).
Christians don’t do good works for salvation, but from salvation. That might sound like splitting hairs, but it is not. It hits the heart of the issue.
If I attempted to do good works to earn my wife’s love, then I would live under constant guilt and fear that I was not doing enough to please her. I would feel like I could never do enough to make her love me. However, if I begin by knowing she loves me, then I can respond with acts of love out of my gratitude for her. I hope you see the difference. Working for acceptance screams, “You have to!” Living from acceptance says, “I want to!”
Some Christians live under constant guilt and fear, thinking they have not done enough to earn God’s love. They fast, serve, give and jump through religious hoops to appease their guilt. They have to keep going, or else. What a heartbreaking, anxious and joyless position to be in!
God loves His followers with an everlasting love. When we start from His undying love for us, then we count it as a privilege to serve and worship Him as a response to all He has done for us. And we keep going, propelled by grateful joy and peaceful contentment.
A Christian who performs spiritual activities and disciplines during Lent, or any other time of the year, out of sheer religious duty has missed the point. Sadly, they have also misunderstood God’s heart. He calls us to come away from hollow religious activities and into a deepening relationship with Him.
Jesus instructed His followers, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me” (John 15:4).
Are you living the abiding life with Christ? If not, this is a wonderful time to repent and return to the heart of God.
“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” (James 4:8a).
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