The country music artiste, Don Williams, once sang: “It’s gonna come from the heart if you want it to work.” Lent is a time that calls us to a close examination of our lives before God. It could also be called a time of spiritual stocktaking; it is a healthy exercise from time to time.This should, however, not be limited to the yearly observance of the holy season of Lent.
Like many good things, there is the tendency for this great exercise to be abused by those who do not go beyond the mere ceremonial or religious observance. The Lord Jesus saw through the rigorous, but empty religious practices of the Pharisees in His day and denounced a lifestyle that was inconsistent with their pretensions. He called instead for lives that were in harmony — in and out, between profession and practice.
In His sermon on the Mount, Jesus said as He concluded: “A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19: Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20: Thus you will recognise them by their fruits,” (Matthew 7:18-20).
Again, He said to the Pharisees and Scribes who came to challenge Him about religious observances: “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8: This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 9: In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men,” (Matthew 15:7-9). One more example will drive this emphasis home. In a scathing denunciation of the phony practices of the religious leaders of His day, Jesus told His disciples that: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. 3: So do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. 4: They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5: They do all their deeds to be seen by others,” (Matthew 23:2-5).
With these statements of our Lord, can anyone claim to remain in doubt about what pleases God in our religious professions? Lent goes to the heart of the matter, which we cannot afford to ignore. One sure way to observe Lent meaningfully is to allow the Spirit of God to use the word of God to search our motives in all that we do. While abstinence is good as a major feature of our observance of Lent, the word of God provides the best spiritual nourishment for our souls during this time. Denying yourself food and other luxuries without feasting on the word of God amounts to physical and spiritual starvation. When Jesus was tempted by the devil, He made a response to every temptation by quoting the word of God appropriately. It is a profitable practice for us to devote more time specifically for reading and meditating on God’s word. We could use our regular meal times for the extra reading of the Bible and even set targets of how many chapters we want to read daily.
Reading is not enough, but must be accompanied with meditation and action points for obedience and application. Using a notebook for taking notes of what we are learning is a helpful practice at this time.
This same concern about practical Christianity dominates the letter of James. In 4:1, and following, he directs attention to the cause of our problems. That is quite instructive indeed. We cannot continue to deal with symptoms and expect to have lasting solutions to our problems whether as individuals, families or as a nation. We have gone round in vicious circles thinking that God would overlook our ways and be blinded by our religious ceremonies. This is the time to take ourselves seriously in our relationship with God, so that, God can also take us seriously and, in His mercy, forgive us, heal us, and restore us to His blessings once more.
