Social media makes many of us prey to its powers of making us feel important. I fall into this myself, but rest assured that 90% of my posting of minutiae is meant to be ironic. Take, for example, my recent Instagram post of my bowl of oatmeal.
Let's not talk about the fact that it took me 20 minutes to figure out how to get that Instagram picture on my blog. Okay? Okay.
Anyway, during my time on social media for the seminary, last week I saw an incredible number of posts, articles, tweets, and the like that were questioning the idea of people giving things up for Lent OR questioning what they were giving up. The overarching trends were along the lines of "You shouldn't give up such a puny little thing for Jesus when 21 guys just got their heads cut off for him," "You shouldn't give stuff up for Lent because you're doing it for the wrong reasons," and, my personal favorite, "Lent should be about taking on something instead of giving something up."
I, for one, tend not to publicize my Lenten sacrifices. I find them to be between God and me. But I find no moral wrong in people sharing their challenges, insights, and convictions with others--especially for purposes of accountability. That's not a hill I'm gonna die on. What I'm concerned about is the need to shame people for their personal convictions about Lent. Instead of the bad-kind-of-judging people, I think there's a lot we can learn from what people publicize about their Lenten surrenders.
Lent is the season before Easter--the revelation of a savior--when we remember our need for that savior. It's a time of mourning. Ashes. Dust. Remembering our humanity and weakness. It's a time to feel the burn, as it were. We have to be sick over our need for help and rescue or we underappreciate the rescuer and get self-righteous. The point is to fast from what takes our focus away from that. The point is to feel a little pain so that by the time we get to Easter, it's a relief that He is Risen all over again.
Puny Things: For some people, Facebook is in the way. For some, it's coffee. Or burgers. It can be something small and seemingly insignificant to another, but for them it's more of an admission of weakness. "It's going to be an actual challenge for me to give up burgers for a month and a half. Dang, do I need a savior!" They aren't giving up their lives, like some serious bloggers might unnecessarily point out, but if chocolate is the only thing they can give up for Christ--and THAT'S a struggle, by all means start the process of death to self with a temporary fast from chocolate! If we can't admit to ourselves--and the ocean of deep thinkers on Twitter--that it's hard for us to not play video games for 40 days, we'll never be able to talk about the true need to sacrifice our entire lives.
Wrong Reasons: Lent is certainly not an excuse to diet, but don't underestimate the power of the Spirit to work in a poorly-motivated soul. And how do you truly know someone's real motives?
I gave up fried food, chocolate, and cheese (my three major college food groups) one year at IWU. I had several motives! One, I LOVE those things and often use food as a motivator instead of grace. Two, I wanted to be healthier and take better care of myself. If I let my body go, I'm not as productive for the Kingdom. It's a spiritual issue for me. Three, I wanted to do something small and yet challenging to prove that I am weak. That giving up something so small was actually a problem. And I needed to rely on God for something that itty bitty. How much more do I need to rely on him for the big things?
Wanna know something? I'm not sure if I consciously know all my motives with certainty at the time. Everyone else was giving up stuff and I did, too. Maybe I look back on it and see the lessons I want 19-year-old Leah to learn and retroactively motivate myself--or at least clarify my motives. Whatever the case, to this day, that's the Lent I remember the most. God works when we give him an in. Even bad motives can become "ins" for God's Spirit in us. Don't question motives here. Let God work. It's not that big of a deal and you don't know someone's story. Maybe that little something they relinquish has a grip on their life that you don't understand.
Take Something Up: An excellent idea! Unfortunately, adding into our busy schedules without removing something is usually not all that successful. I personally recommend that the adders do a little subtracting. But don't tell people that they should focus on adding over subtracting! That there's nothing in their lives that needs a little time-out! If adding helps you focus on your weakness and leads you into Easter better, go for it. It's a personal conviction. It's definitely not a written-in-blood or written-in-ink issue. I'd say it's not even a penciled-in issue! Maybe written on an Etch-a-Sketch...
It's fun to joke about giving up things we don't like for Lent. I've seen some great lists of more abstract things to give up (e.g. anger, lust, negativity). Do what you feel led to do and lay off the other people. Give up the Lent Shaming for Lent! See? I made a Lent joke! Maybe I should give those up for Lent...OH! I made another one!
In all seriousness, blessings on your Lenten season. May we remember that we made from dust and will return to it. That we are nothing without the breath of God breathed into our souls. That we are so much farther gone that we think we are (heck, we struggle to let go of Diet Coke for a few weeks!) but that our God is so much more of a savior than we realize.
Let's not talk about the fact that it took me 20 minutes to figure out how to get that Instagram picture on my blog. Okay? Okay.
Anyway, during my time on social media for the seminary, last week I saw an incredible number of posts, articles, tweets, and the like that were questioning the idea of people giving things up for Lent OR questioning what they were giving up. The overarching trends were along the lines of "You shouldn't give up such a puny little thing for Jesus when 21 guys just got their heads cut off for him," "You shouldn't give stuff up for Lent because you're doing it for the wrong reasons," and, my personal favorite, "Lent should be about taking on something instead of giving something up."
I, for one, tend not to publicize my Lenten sacrifices. I find them to be between God and me. But I find no moral wrong in people sharing their challenges, insights, and convictions with others--especially for purposes of accountability. That's not a hill I'm gonna die on. What I'm concerned about is the need to shame people for their personal convictions about Lent. Instead of the bad-kind-of-judging people, I think there's a lot we can learn from what people publicize about their Lenten surrenders.
Lent is the season before Easter--the revelation of a savior--when we remember our need for that savior. It's a time of mourning. Ashes. Dust. Remembering our humanity and weakness. It's a time to feel the burn, as it were. We have to be sick over our need for help and rescue or we underappreciate the rescuer and get self-righteous. The point is to fast from what takes our focus away from that. The point is to feel a little pain so that by the time we get to Easter, it's a relief that He is Risen all over again.
Puny Things: For some people, Facebook is in the way. For some, it's coffee. Or burgers. It can be something small and seemingly insignificant to another, but for them it's more of an admission of weakness. "It's going to be an actual challenge for me to give up burgers for a month and a half. Dang, do I need a savior!" They aren't giving up their lives, like some serious bloggers might unnecessarily point out, but if chocolate is the only thing they can give up for Christ--and THAT'S a struggle, by all means start the process of death to self with a temporary fast from chocolate! If we can't admit to ourselves--and the ocean of deep thinkers on Twitter--that it's hard for us to not play video games for 40 days, we'll never be able to talk about the true need to sacrifice our entire lives.
Wrong Reasons: Lent is certainly not an excuse to diet, but don't underestimate the power of the Spirit to work in a poorly-motivated soul. And how do you truly know someone's real motives?
I gave up fried food, chocolate, and cheese (my three major college food groups) one year at IWU. I had several motives! One, I LOVE those things and often use food as a motivator instead of grace. Two, I wanted to be healthier and take better care of myself. If I let my body go, I'm not as productive for the Kingdom. It's a spiritual issue for me. Three, I wanted to do something small and yet challenging to prove that I am weak. That giving up something so small was actually a problem. And I needed to rely on God for something that itty bitty. How much more do I need to rely on him for the big things?
Wanna know something? I'm not sure if I consciously know all my motives with certainty at the time. Everyone else was giving up stuff and I did, too. Maybe I look back on it and see the lessons I want 19-year-old Leah to learn and retroactively motivate myself--or at least clarify my motives. Whatever the case, to this day, that's the Lent I remember the most. God works when we give him an in. Even bad motives can become "ins" for God's Spirit in us. Don't question motives here. Let God work. It's not that big of a deal and you don't know someone's story. Maybe that little something they relinquish has a grip on their life that you don't understand.
Take Something Up: An excellent idea! Unfortunately, adding into our busy schedules without removing something is usually not all that successful. I personally recommend that the adders do a little subtracting. But don't tell people that they should focus on adding over subtracting! That there's nothing in their lives that needs a little time-out! If adding helps you focus on your weakness and leads you into Easter better, go for it. It's a personal conviction. It's definitely not a written-in-blood or written-in-ink issue. I'd say it's not even a penciled-in issue! Maybe written on an Etch-a-Sketch...
It's fun to joke about giving up things we don't like for Lent. I've seen some great lists of more abstract things to give up (e.g. anger, lust, negativity). Do what you feel led to do and lay off the other people. Give up the Lent Shaming for Lent! See? I made a Lent joke! Maybe I should give those up for Lent...OH! I made another one!
In all seriousness, blessings on your Lenten season. May we remember that we made from dust and will return to it. That we are nothing without the breath of God breathed into our souls. That we are so much farther gone that we think we are (heck, we struggle to let go of Diet Coke for a few weeks!) but that our God is so much more of a savior than we realize.
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