Giving It Up for Lent

God is calling us to reflect His nature through our actions, and we are given this admonition in Romans chapter 6:
(19b) For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.

So, you're reading that right - it is God's desire for us to be - dare I say it?  Holy!!   And, holiness is not governed by the externals, trying to be perfect in our own strength.  It comes through the internals, from the inside out, as our hearts are aligned with God, His nature flows through us.   Sure, we are called to choose, to put aside fleshly desires and resist temptation - we put off the old nature, so that the new nature may be expressed.   And, this time of year, many are commemorating Lent, representing putting off the activities of the flesh, so that we may live in more of the power of the Spirit.

2nd Corinthians 7:1 is a great verse to ponder on this day before the Lenten season opens:
1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Today is the traditional "Fat Tuesday", a.k.a. Mardi Gras - since tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, this day was set aside to, well, indulge, because people were about to give something up for Lent.    The Lenten season represents the 40-day period, excluding Sundays, leading up to Easter Sunday, which this year is set for March 31st.

So, as many Christians reflect on the season of Lent, there is an element of sacrifice that is present; thinking on the sacrifice of our Lord for us.   The 40-day unit of time has some significance, too - Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness praying and fasting and being tempted by the devil.   There were 40 days between His resurrection and his ascension into heaven.   It rained 40 days and 40 nights on the ark.  And, the children of Israel wandered for 40 years before entering the Promised Land.

Although statistics report that over 700 people give up reading the Bible every day in America, one Christian church in NJ is bucking the trend.   Liquid Church is devoting 40 days to reading through the New Testament by Easter.  In response, over 3,300 adults and children have begun to read the Bible during the season of Lent.

"The outpouring of interest surprised us," said Tim Lucas, Lead Pastor of Liquid Church, the Christian non-denominational church with 3 locations in New Jersey. "Although the media often highlights how irrelevant the Bible seems to modern culture, there is a growing hunger among the next generation to open the Scriptures and see what God's Word says for themselves." 

To support the Bible reading, the church gave away over 4,800 copies of the New Testament for free to members, friends, and anyone interested. Over 300 volunteers have been trained by the church to host and facilitate almost 200 local reading groups across the state. Ten of the groups will meet weekly online using Google+ Hangout video conferencing services. Each group, consisting of 5-12 people will meet weekly for 8 weeks during the next two months leading up to Easter Sunday. 

And, to give you some food for thought (pun intended), Christianity Today has published a list of the top 100 things that Twitter followers gave up last year, based on the responses of some 300,000 followers.  Here are the top 20:

1. Twitter
2. Chocolate
3. Swearing
4. Alcohol
5. Soda
6. Facebook
7. Fast food
8. Sex
9. Sweets
10. Meat
11. Lent
12. School
13. Junk food
14. Chips
15. Coffee
16. Candy
17. Bread
18. You
19. Smoking
20. Giving up things

Some notable items:  the new site, Pinterest, almost made the list, showing up at #118. (Pinterest does have a number of Lent-related boards, by the way).

Chocolate was #2--however, if you add up all the mentions of chocolate in its various forms (“chocs,” “chocolate chips,” etc.), it totals over 14,000 mentions, enough to put it at #1.

Last year’s biggest gainers are “breathing” and “makeup,” both of which jumped up more than 30 places in the list.

No celebrities make the top 100 this year. Boy band One Direction was at #144, followed by Justin Bieber at #194 and Tim Tebow at #221.

Hopefully, young Justin will permanently refrain from marijuana use - After Bieber's pictures appeared on the Internet smoking what appeared to be marijuana, a cloaked apology was included in a Saturday Night Live skit this past weekend - he was playing the part of the president of the Miley Cyrus fan club and in a reference to himself, “I also heard he got busted for smoking weed, and he’s really sorry about it, and that people make mistakes and he’s never gonna do it again.”  He also tweeted out after the pictures leaked, “i see all of u. i hear all of u. i never want to let any of you down. i love u. and..thank u. #beliebers.”

Lent is definitely more of a tradition that a Scriptural admonition, but can be a tool in order to focus on the Lord's desires for us and to reinforce the notion of sacrifice in our lives, as we seek to perfect holiness in the fear of God.