Today is Ash Wednesday and marks the beginning of the Lenten season. Ash Wednesday ceremonies entail marking the forehead with ashes as a visible cross. Lent originated as mirroring Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the desert where he endured temptation by Satan. Lent occurs 46 days, in which 40 days are fasting days. The 6 Sundays in Lent are excluded and set as a feast day in which fasting is not appropriate.
As I was reading my morning Bible lesson and Discipline (Isaiah 58:1-12) this morning, which talks about fasting that pleases God, Lent is an invitation to the observance of a holy Lent. This is not fasting, just to be fasting, but by reading and meditating on God’s Holy Word through self-examination and repentance, by prayer fasting and self-denial. Fasting occurs in many forms, but it is the choice to abstain from whatever may get in the way of our relationship with God, whether it is food, habit or attitude. Although fasting is typically associated with the abstention from food for a certain period of time, fasting is an offering to God for us to overcome being and doing what we please and do what God wants us to do. This requires doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God. We must avoid being hypocrites by going through the motion and ritual of fasting, and not changing our attitudes to walk in justice, as we fast and pray.
So whatever it is that you choose to give up for Lent, whether it is fasting or a habit that disconnects us from God, do it with a humble and unselfish heart. Do it so that it is pleasing to God and not for the sake of man.
16 “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
- Matthew 6:16-18 (NIV)
