If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:3
“Though what is specifically “given up for Lent” shifts from generation to generation, the broad categories of entertainment, pleasure, and food have remained constant through the centuries. Caffeine, chocolate, designer coffee, carbs, and social media currently rank among the more popular offerings. In an age suffocating in self, any willful fast from what much of the planet would deem a luxury is to be commended. However, since commendation cannot be confused with preparation, I must ask: can such polite fasts alone truly prepare us to be awed by Christ’s resurrection? . . .
God seems more interested in what we are becoming than in what we are giving up. . .Faith, in general, is less about the sacrifice of stuff and more about the surrender of our souls. Lent, in kind, is less about well-mannered denials and more about thinning our lives in order to thicken our communion with God. Decrease is holy only when its destination is love.”
Alicia Britt Chole in 40 Days of Decrease: A Different Kind of Hunger. A Different Kind of Fast (Nashville: W Publishing, 2016) 1-2. Thanks to my friend, John Cochran, for alerting me to this book.
As we are in the middle of week two, Chole’s counsel is spot on: Lent is not about “commendation” but “preparation”; it’s about “thinning our lives” to “thicken our communion with God”. But what struck me as profound was the punchline of her thought: “Decrease is holy only when its destination is love.”
Whether you are fasting from TV, coffee, social media, or something else this Lent, decrease so that you can “feast on Jesus” as my wife and daughter like to say. Celebrate that “decrease” helps you build spiritual bandwidth with God, who is love. Our role on earth is to enjoy and generously dispense love!