Lent – Fasting – Temptation – Hooked

Today marks be beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday.  Lent is one of the oldest Christian practices, dating back to 325 and the Council of Nicea.   The practice of Lent has historically focused on fasting.  Today we make use of the notion of giving something up for Lent.  Many times people give up things like caffeine, cookies, or other treats.  A few years ago I gave up fast food, in foolish attempt to combine dieting with piety.  Naturally it backfired and I gained rather than lost weight.

The purpose of giving something up for Lent, like the purpose for fasting, is to focus the believer on the blessings of God and on God Himself through the realization of those blessing being absent from life.  The challenge is the when you give up something that you otherwise enjoy, perhaps even in excess, in its absence temptation sets in and you desire it all the more.  When you are hooked on something, whether that something is legal or not, it gets into your head.

Next week we begin our new series, “Hooked”, at ICTHUS, where we will be dealing with the nature of temptation and how God, the author of our desires, has provided us with support to deal with those temptations which are not quite as innocent as hitting In-N-Out when you give up fast food for Lent.

~ by dcedave on February 26, 2009.