What are YOU giving up for Lent?

A couple of days ago I overheard a conversation that went something like this:  "So what did you give up for Lent?"  "Cigarettes"  "Oooooh ... you're GooooD!" followed by laughter.  I admit that I had to smile.

My next thought was, "that's not really what Lent is about ... being good."  Lent isn't even about giving up something bigger or better than the next person is giving up.  It's easy to think that way, making it a battle of who's got the stronger will.  But that's where a lot of people who observe the Lenten season by abstaining or refraining from anything end up.

Lent isn't a time for giving up sin.  No matter how badly we might want to, we couldn't give up sin if our lives depended on it -- not even for Lent!  Yet, we end up measuring our sin against the sin of others in an effort to justify our goodness before God.  But when God measures sin - He holds it up against the Law -- and that changes everything because none of us can stand up sinless before the Ten Commandments.  If you've broken even one of the Ten Commandments you're guilty of breaking them all.

There are three uses of the Law.  The Law serves as a curb to restrain sin,  a mirror to show us our sinful state and our need for Christ's redemption, and a guide to lead us to love, trust, and fear God to willingly keep His commandments.  I like what this blogger says:  the "law cannot make us willing."  We are only willing when the Holy Spirit has worked faith in us to want to do the will of God. St. Paul in his letter to James says, "But someone will say you have faith and I have works.  Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works." James 2:18 (ESV)

Lent isn't a time for works, it's a time for thinking about the passion of Christ during His last days on Earth before His crucifixion through the day of His ascension.  It's a time of self examination, reflection, and voluntary restraint in quiet repentance remembering what Christ has done for us.