Lent III

 . . . let the unrighteous   their thoughts . . . 

 - From Isaiah 55

Lent is a time of waiting, of patience, and of discipline. We give up things, because it is assumed that the things we give up, are things we can live without. It may be hard to do without them, because we have made a habit out of doing these things: eating certain foods, acting certain ways, doing certain wrongs.

The things that we can stop doing, the fasting from which won't kill us, is the beginning of understanding sin. Sins are things we wish we could overcome. When we succumb to temptation, and do it anyway, chances are it's sin, because it's something we could avoid doing. We really want to control ourselves. We can control ourselves. But at some point, we choose not to control ourselves. We put our own desires ahead of those of others. We put our desires ahead of our own needs.

That's sin.

We're all born to sin. We're born that way. Accepting yourself as you really are sound noble enough . . . it sounds that way. What do we way to the pathological liar? Oh leave him be. He was born that way. We were born at a level, above which it should be our goal to rise. We want to excel, and improve. We want to do less bad, and more good.

That's the point.

Lent is different than Advent. There's more than just being patient. You must also test yourself by giving up something you love doing. Christ did without a lot of things, and it prepared Him for his eternal purpose. Christ went ahead of us, doing without.

Now it's our turn.