Lent is meant to be a kind of challenging season of the church year. It is at its best if it makes us all feel a little bit uncomfortable. Maybe even a little bit nervous…
It is relatively easy to slide through Lent and not have it faze or affect you at all.
It can be easy to ignore your “God relationship.” Heck, it can be downright easy just to ignore God…
Do nothing…absolutely nothing…uh-huh-uh-huh…that’s the way we like it…uh-huh-uh huh – doing absolutely nothing…(say it, again) 😉
No praying…
No fasting…
No giving of ourselves to anyone…
Build up treasures for ourselves – here on earth! That’s cash in the bank, baby!
Easy enough – done! And then, on to a one day celebration of Easter and you are done again! Amen.
American religion at its finest! Or, worst!
It is more of a hassle to “journey through Lent”…and to take it all seriously. It is more difficult to celebrate seven weeks of Easter.
Who has the time?
But if we are honest, there are temptations galore. Daily temptations…hourly temptations…temptations that keep on coming… They are non-stop, even as I imagine, they were for Jesus. They know no time constraints or limits…
How silly to assume that Jesus was tempted only once, three times and never again! Temptations are continuous for all of us!
But then, all of that takes work and time.
Temptations take work…
The temptation to do the wrong thing…
The temptation to please the crowd…
The temptation to slide along with the majority.
The temptation to please yourself – at the expense of others…
The temptation to do nothing at all …
The temptation to think that you can do it all…everything…
The temptation to pretend that you are strong…
The temptation to pretend that you are weak and totally helpless…
The temptation to seek glory and fame for yourself…
The temptation to give – and to blow horns and sirens – to flash HOLLYWOOD LIGHTS – and to let everyone (EVERYONE) you have ever met – KNOW – that you have given something.
Look at what I did! Ain’t I great? A gold star for me…
There is always the temptation to blame others…
And what about the temptation to point fingers…
OMG, so many temptations, so little time.
The temptation to gripe and complain…all of it sounds so biblical.
The temptation to bring others down…
If I take this stuff seriously…I mean…really seriously…what kind of a disciple will I be? What kind of a disciple am I becoming?
How will my life be defined?
Will you see the hand of God at work in the things that I say or do?
Or will it be me, me, me … all about me!
Do I yearn for fame and fortune, the easy life or for the desire to lord it over others?
What about our daily speech? Can I “slide on my language” when I am with my friends? Or at home?
What about language that is disrespectful or language that is offensive?
Isn’t it a temptation to live without being shackled to the past? Or a temptation to live for the moment…and what about living without fear for the future?
Why do we always think that we can control and are capable of controlling everything and everyone! When we are not!
Just who do I think that I am? Who do I want to be?
We are not alone in this journey. Some of these are the very same questions that faced Jesus…They are the very same questions that others of us – here – deal with – or choose – not to deal with…
What about you and this forty day journey thingy…just what are you going to do?
Are you “in” or “out?” The choice is yours!