Lent is the season before Easter, the 40 days preceding our celebration of Jesus’s death and resurrection. It’s traditionally a time of reflection and renunciation as we prepare our hearts for the greatest revelation of love and power the world has ever known.
Many focus on ‘giving up’ foods or bad habits for Lent. Any form of self-denial can be helpful to people who generally indulge themselves far too easily. It can be helpful to practise self-control in specific measurable ways. What is more challenging, however, is giving up these aspects of our character which are holding us back spiritually or learning to grow spiritual fruit which will last. We want more than the ‘quick fix’ of short-term renunciation; we are looking for long-term transformation (see 2 Cor 3:18).
Over these forty days, let’s take a good hard look at the kind of people God wants us to be and to seek to grow in grace and a knowledge of the Lord Jesus. (2 Pet 3:18)
