'So, What Are You Giving Up For Lent?'

Growing up a Lutheran-In-Name-Only (LINO) here in the Northeast, Lent was never a big deal to me or my family.

I just remember it being this strange time each year leading up to Easter when all of my Catholic friends stopped eating meat for some reason.

It was never explained to be why they did that, but only that it was a tradition, and so it's just what you do...or else you're a "bad" Christian. 

Here's a commentary I found this year that does a fantastic job of explaining the "So, what are you giving up for Lent?" question...

COMMENTARY: What Are You Giving Up For Lent?

AMEN! My favorite part?

"My whole line of thinking was misguided. Lent isn’t about us doing something for Jesus because He has done something for us. It’s not an exchange. It’s not a contest. You’ll see that the result of any of the above motivations for practicing Lent is condemned by Jesus in the Gospels. It leads to us playing the disciples’ favorite game: 'Who’s the greatest?' It leads to the very thing it seeks to destroy -- self-righteousness. The purpose of Lent is to reveal to us our complete reliance on the Word of God. It shows us how fallible and depraved we are. Now, there’s certainly nothing wrong with choosing to give up Dr. Pepper and Sweet Tarts, and the consumption of those things is not sinful. But if I struggle to keep such a simple vow to give up something so petty as that, how much merit should anyone give to my other promises? What about my marriage vows? What about Confirmation? Will I make sacrifices in order that my word is kept? Our word is often unsure. God’s Word is sure. Lent drives us to see who we really are by removing those things to which we so tightly cling."

In a Lutheran layman's terms, Lent is NOT about what we "give up" as much as it is about remembering what Jesus Christ gave up (and continues to give up) for you, for me, and for all mankind. Nothing more, nothing less.



NOTE: Please understand that I'm not a called and ordained minister of God's Word and Sacraments. I'm a layman or just your average everyday Christian, Corporate Healthcare Recruiter, Husband, Father, Friend who lives in the "City of Good Neighbors" here on the East Coast. As another Christian Blogger once wrote, "Please do not see this blog as me attempting to 'publicly teach' the faith, but view it as 'an informal Public Journal of sorts' about my own experiences and journey." So if any of my notes here help you in any way at all, then I say, "Praise the Lord! Thanks be to God!" but please do double check them against the Word of God and with your own Pastor. Trust, but always verify. To be more specific, and relevant to the point I want to make with this lengthy disclaimer/note, please understand that I'm a relatively new convert to "Confessional Lutheranism" and one who recently escaped an American-Evangelical-Non-Denominational mindset a little more than 6 years ago now despite being a Christian my whole life. That being said, please contact me ASAP if you believe that any of my "old beliefs" seem to have crept their way back into any of the material you see published here, and especially if any of the content is inconsistent with the Bible, our Confessions, and Lutheran doctrine in general (in other words, if it's not consistent with God's Word, which our Confessions merely summarize and repeatedly point us back to over and over again) so that I can not only correct those errors immediately and not lead any of His little ones astray (James 3:1), but so that I can also repent of my sin and learn the whole truth myself. With that in mind, please be aware that you might also discover that some of the earlier/older pieces I wrote for this blog back in 2013 definitely fall into that "Old Evangelical Adam" category (and they don't have a disclaimer like this) since I was a "Lutheran-In-Name-Only" at the time and was completely oblivious to the fact that a Christian "Book of Concord" even existed (Small/Large Catechism? What's that!?!). This knowledge of the Lutheran B-A-S-I-C-S was completely foreign to me even though I was baptized, confirmed, and married in an LCMS church! So, there are some entries that are a little more "out there" so-to-speak since the subject matter was also heavily influenced by those old beliefs of mine. I know that now and I'm still learning. Anyway, I decided to leave those published posts up on this website and in cyberspace only because they are not blasphemous/heretical demanding I correct them or take them down entirely, but because I now have this disclaimer, and only to demonstrate the continuing work of Christ and the Holy Spirit in my life (Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:6). Most importantly, please know that any time I engage in commenting on and/or interpreting a specific portion of the holy Scriptures, it will always closely follow the verse-by-verse footnotes from my Lutheran Study Bible and/or include references to the Book of Concord unless otherwise noted. Typically, I will defer to what other Lutheran Pastors both past and present have already preached and taught about such passages since they are the called and ordained under-shepherds of our souls here on earth. Finally, I'm going to apologize ahead of time for the length of most entries (this disclaimer/note is a perfect example of what I mean by that! haha). I'm well aware that blogs should be short, sweet, and to the point, but I've never been one to follow the rules when it comes to writing. Besides, this website is more like a "Christian Dude's Diary" in the sense that everything I write about and share publicly isn't always what's "popular" or "#Trending" at the time, but is instead all the things that I'm studying myself at the moment. For better or for worse, these posts tend to be much longer than most blog entries you'll find elsewhere only because I try to pack as much info as possible into a single piece so that I can refer to it again and again over time if I need to (and so that it can be a valuable resource for others -- if possible, a "One-Stop-Shop" of sorts). Thank you for stopping by and thank you in advance for your time, help, and understanding. Feel free to comment/email me at any time. Grace and peace to you and yours!