Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. Matthew 16:24-25
“Lent is a call to renew a commitment grown dull, perhaps, by a life more marked by routine than by reflection. After a lifetime of mundane regularity or unconsidered adherence to the trappings of faith, Lent requires me, as a Christian, to stop for a while, to reflect again on what is going on in me. I am challenged again to decide whether I, myself, do truly believe that Jesus is the Christ and if I believe, whether I will live accordingly… Lent is not a ritual. It is a time given to think seriously about who Jesus is for us, to renew our faith from the inside out.”
Joan Chittister in The Liturgical Year (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009) 111.
Today is Ash Wednesday. It’s the start of Lent, a time of reflection. I like how Chittister describes it as a time to “renew a commitment” or to “think seriously about who Jesus is for us.”
Fasting helps create space to do this. This breaks us from our routines and mundane regularities.
If you’ve never observed Lent, please do it this year. It’s a time for focusing on the core disciplines of the Christian life, namely, prayer, fasting, and giving. To download my Lent Companion, click here.
It’s not a ritual. It’s a time to rekindle your relationship with Jesus Christ for walking in radical obedience.