Re-Story Your Life: The Invitation of Lent

Raised on Disney princesses and the Lord of the Rings, I’m a prime candidate for falling deep into a world that doesn’t actually exist. For reference, I’m currently in my Brandon Sanderson era. (IYKYK. If you don’t know, he’s an author and you should start with Mistborn: The Final Empire).

It is a uniquely human thing to love stories (I’m not sure a horse could track with the plotline of Seabiscuit). The more epic or incredulous the story, the more we are drawn in. But also, the more we believe that story to be true, the more power it has in our lives.

For anyone who follows Jesus, I believe pursuing the spiritual practice of Lent is one way we could fall deeper into the greatest story ever known and that story goes something like this:

read in the voice of Cate Blanchett ala the prologue of the Fellowship of the Ring Long ago, when the world as we know it was not yet formed, the God of the Bible created everything seen and unseen in this world. He created humans, in his image, to have authority and take care of his creation. But instead of choosing life and partnership with Him (the tree of life), we chose suspicion and separation from God by listening to God’s enemy and giving into temptation (the tree of good and evil, see Genesis 3). With our eyes open to good and evil, we released hell on earth. But God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness (Exodus 34:6) had a plan to rescue and heal the world and bring humanity back into relationship with him. A savior, fully God and fully human, would come to show us the way, the truth, and the life we were made for. And then he would die as a perfect sacrifice to atone for the past, present, and future sins of the world.

That should be the end of the story. When the protagonist dies, it’s time to roll credits. (unless it’s any sci-fi movie ever). Instead, it was the start of a new chapter for humankind.

(continuing in Cate Blanchett voice) The man we call Jesus Christ rose from the grave three days after he died, thereby defeating the power of death, making it possible for us to reclaim our birthright—to rule and care for the world alongside our loving King. And one day, heaven and earth will be united and the earth will be remade (Revelation 21:1). The world will be God’s dwelling place among the people, and he will dwell with them. We will be his people, and God himself will be with us and be our God. ‘He will wipe every tear from our eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will pass away.” (adapted from Revelation 21:3-4).

Now, that’s a good story. It’s incredible. And I believe it to be true. The more deeply I believe in the truth of THAT story, the more my life reflects it. I live with more security, freedom and confidence. I love people more deeply, leave shame behind me, and pursue my relationship with God as the most important connection in my life.

However, I often struggle to remember that the above story is the one I need to continue to live out. That story didn’t end 2,000 years ago—it is alive and well beyond time constraints and can be lived out through me today. But I tend to forget the goodness of God so easily. The enemy of God, the tempter in the Garden, knows this. He has come to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). He is the father of lies (John 8:44) and he will use everything at his disposal to tell me that God’s story isn’t true.

To remember the story of the Gospel, followers of Jesus have always engaged in various spiritual practices, like reading scripture, fasting, or communion—all to push us to know Jesus more deeply. Spiritual practices re-story us. They shift our focus back to reality—the reality that the God of the universe loves us, knows us, and works his goodness into our daily lives.

One of the longest standing spiritual practices is Lent—fasting or abstaining from something during the 40 days leading up to the Thursday before Easter. Lent purposefully strips away the comforts and distractions of everyday life, and pushes us to confront our humanity and need for God. For a long time, Christians would observe Lent by eating one simple meal a day and fasting the rest of the time with the exception of the Sabbath. It’s changed over the years, but the intention of Lent is to imitate Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness in preparation for the celebration of Easter:

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. (Luke 4:1-2).

40 days and three temptations later, Jesus leaves empowered by the Holy Spirit to start his ministry. 40 days and much temptation later, Lent gives us the opportunity to be transformed and empowered by the Holy Spirit (if we allow it to). The culmination of this season ends three days later as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Do you see the parallels? As we say no to food, alcohol, social media, etc. (whatever we choose to give up), we say yes to being led into a wilderness-like state, like Jesus. We confront our temptations and lean into God to be our comfort, joy, and strength, like Jesus. And at the end of the 40 days we will confront both sin and satan for three days as we remember the incredible cost and sacrifice of the cross, like Jesus (except thankfully, we don’t have to die).

And then…we celebrate the resurrection of our King who now empowers us to live in the story that we were originally created for—as his children, empowered to love others and be a force of his goodness in the world.

I want to invite you to step into Lent with me. Say yes to following God into the wilderness because the wilderness changes us for the better—and brings us into the true story.

Below is what I feel led to give up for Lent this year and the “why” behind it. I have a few things I’ve felt God tapping me on the shoulder to give up. Feel free to use these as prompts for yourself, but be open to how God is asking you to step into the wilderness. Also, don’t feel like you have to choose more than one, especially if this practice is new to you.

• Digital Fast. This is something we’re doing as a Church community. I’m making my smartphone and dumb phone by deleting all social media and entertainment apps. We’re also limiting our TV time to family movie night only. Why? I’m using screens as a way to distract myself and numb out, and I’m allowing it to do the same to my family. Eliminating the distraction of social media will definitely give my brain more space and force me to lean into God.

• Fasting from food. I have a regular rhythm of fasting once a week, so I’m going to up this to twice a week. Why? I already know fasting helps me connect with God more. During Lent, I want to up that connection. I want to build my reliance on Him more deeply.

• Abstaining from alcohol. Other than on my birthday in March and communion, I’m giving up alcohol. Why? I don’t drink much right now but I’ve noticed that when I do, I’m often using it as a social/emotional crutch. It takes the edge off the day OR the edge off social anxiety. I want to stretch the muscles of seeking God’s comfort even as I’m interacting with people.

• No Fiction books. If you couldn’t tell from the beginning of this article, I’m a bit of a book-nerd. Why? I have a bunch of Christian non-fiction books I’ve bought and never read. Especially in this season of re-storying myself, I want to put my focus on the story that truly shapes my life and I’ll wait to re-read the Throne of Glass series another time.

Let’s step into the most amazing and epic story of our lives. Let’s experience the Gospel together—not as a past and distant event, but as a true story that changes us to be more like Jesus daily. Let’s embark into the wilderness.

Disclaimer: This article is 100% human-generated.

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