Addressing the Celebration of Lent

I have to be honest. I am not an expert on the celebration of Lent. It wasn’t talked about a lot in the church I grew up in and it’s not been a huge tradition in any of the churches where I’ve served. When I was growing up the only friends I knew of that celebrated lent were my Catholic friends. I understand the concepts and principles involved and I realize it is gaining in popularity in today’s church culture, but it’s simply not been something I’ve practiced a great deal.
Lent is a practice of celebration 40 days prior to Easter that allows believers to prepare their hearts to celebrate Christ’s resurrection. Basically, the person practicing lent gives up something they would regularly do during the season of lent. I’ve heard of people abstaining from caffeine, sweets, television, or smoking, among other things. Today being what is called Ash Wednesday, the start of the lent season, I have received enough questions about it that I felt it was worthy of my addressing the issue.
My understanding of Scriptures is that the Old Testament practices and traditions are no longer required, but, at the same time, disciplining ourselves is always a good thing, if done with the right motive and purpose. For that reason, I would encourage the practice of lent by giving something up of value during this period to spend more time focusing on the true value of Christ. I see great opportunities in this to build family traditions, celebrate Christ together, and personally build a person’s character in Christ.
Since I believe we are no longer bound by rules, but are now bound by grace, if a person wants to practice lent, I think they should write their own rules for their practice of lent based on what they want to accomplish and how disciplined they need to be. The key, however, is more about taking on than it is giving up. The end goal is to take on more of Christ as one gives up something of value. This is actually a good discipline to have throughout the year.
In my opinion, if a person is concentrating more on the discipline and his or her ability to keep a rule then he or she is still living under the law system. If, however, one is concentrating on the focus of Christ then he or she is truly living by grace. That should always be encouraged. However we celebrate or don’t celebrate Lent, let’s all take time preparing our hearts for Easter and reminding ourselves of the sacrifice Christ gave on our behalf. That has to be good for all believers.
Lent experts, I’d love to hear your thoughts… Educate me (and my readers). What am I missing? How do you celebrate Lent?





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