Lent has been around since about the year 200:
only a little more than 150 years after the time of Christ. It was originally a time of preparation for
those planning to be baptized on Easter.
The preparation included study and spiritual reflection. It continues to serve the same purpose for
Christ’s followers today. It is a season
for reflection: how am I doing in my relationship with God? Am I experiencing and
living the new life that he offers me?
If not, what repentance should I be doing? What are the blocks in my way to Christ (or
more properly, his way to me) that need to be cleared away?
Traditionally, many households go through “spring
cleaning” each year. The week to week
house cleaning is fine, but once a year it’s time to give the house a “deep
cleaning.” Get rid of the 30 years’
worth of National Geographics moldering away in the attic. Move the couch and get rid of the dust
bunnies. Wash the curtains and clean the
windows so the sunlight can get in. In the
same way, disciples of Jesus Christ (otherwise known as Christians) spend the
year reading the Bible, praying, and worshiping. But once a year it’s time to clear out the
junk in our souls, chase down the spiritual dust-bunnies, and allow the full
light of God’s love to pour into our lives.
This is what the season of Lent is all about.
But let’s be very clear. Lent is not a time for us to become better
people. We aren’t able to do it. If we try, we will fail, and feel
miserable. That miserable feeling will
drive us farther from the Lord. Lent is
a time to open our lives to God, to become aware of and to present before him
everything in our lives that prevents us from enjoying the fullness of his
love. It is a time to invite the Lord to
be at work in our lives in a more powerful way, and to welcome the transforming
power of his Spirit.
This Lent, I invite you to do a little spiritual
housecleaning. Find the obstacles in
your life that prevent you from receiving the joy, hope, love, and peace that
God desires so deeply for you. I
offer you the following checklist of dust bunnies, grease stains, and
accumulated trash for you to give to the Lord, so that he can do a new thing in
you. For each item, consider the
particulars of your personal spiritual struggles, and find encouragement from
Scripture. I then encourage you to
employ the classic spiritual disciplines of study, prayer, fasting, and
alms-giving to open the front door of your spiritual house so the Lord can
enter with his cleaning crew.
SPIRITUAL HOUSECLEANING FOR LENT
What things in my life are preventing me from
enjoying the fullness of God’s love?
1. A temptation that continues to ensnare me
“No temptation has
overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will
not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he
will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13)
2. A memory or baggage from the past that hinders me
“Let us throw off
everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run
with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the
pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the
cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of
God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
3. Concerns or hopes for the future that blind me from seeing God’s
way for me
“For I know the plans I
have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
4. Anger about a situation or a person
“Get rid of all
bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another,
forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31-32)
5. Hurt or sadness about a situation I am dealing with
“The Sovereign Lord will
wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from
all the earth.” (Isaiah 25:8)
6. Worry and anxiety
“Look at the birds of the
air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly
Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single
hour to your life?(Matthew 6:27)
7. A loss or deficiency
“He said to me, ‘My grace
is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I
will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may
rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
8. An unwillingness to seek God’s regular presence and guidance in
my life
“Here I am! I stand at
the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in
and eat with that person, and they with me.” (Revelation 3:20)
9. A focus for my life that eclipses my devotion to God
“You shall have no other
gods before me. You shall not make for
yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth
beneath or in the waters below.” (Exodus 20:3-4)
10. Pride or selfishness that prevents me from noticing the needs
and desires of others
“Do nothing out of
selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above
yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests
of the others.” (Philippians 2:3-4)
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