Whatever
is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is
anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Phil 4:8).
“What are you giving up for
Lent?” Let’s begin by looking at our
thoughts. What do we think about hour by
hour, day by day? Are we thinking of
excellence, graciousness, loveliness?
What is worthy of our praise?
God, of course, and the beauty of his creation, but what else? Who else?
Do we praise our husband, wife, children? Do we praise our co-workers, employees,
customers? Do we verbally recognize
excellence and loveliness, and graciousness when we see it?
Does it really matter who wins the
Super Bowl, or an Oscar. Do we know the
saints as well as we know athletes and actors/actresses? Do we admire people because of appearance,
wealth, position or for their character? Do we care about our friends and
neighbors, or only about what they can do for us? Do we love our enemies? What about those terrorists, radical
extremists, drug addicts, criminals, or the un-vaccinated?
Jesus came teach us what the kingdom
of God is about. The heart of the
commandments was and is deeper than the don’ts.
They are all about caring for the neighbor we harm with our greed and
envy and desire. Greed and envy and
desire are all about me, not them.
Statements such as, “It’s not fair,” have nothing to do with love and a
lot to do with sin.
The Kingdom of God is not “humanly”
fair. We don’t all have to work the same
number of hours to receive the same pay from God. We can spend all our gifts and come home in
tatters, but we will be given a feast and a robe and welcome. We can’t earn our way, it is a gift.
Maybe
what we need to “give up for Lent” is our old way of thinking and get down on
our knees begging forgiveness for all those negative, hurtful thoughts, for all
the times we didn’t recognize the effort of others. Let us pray for forgiveness, let us humble
ourselves in confession, let us stop the old way of thinking and begin
anew. In the Kingdom of God, those who
ask are forgiven, even after a lifetime of sin.
He waits for us. He died for us.
Let’s finally accept His gift of salvation.
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