"What are you giving up for Lent?"

I've been asked this question a few times and the simple answer is "nothing". In this post I'll explain why.

We are supposed to have a relationship with Jesus every day. Our aim is to follow his example, turn from our sins, show his example in our lives and repent every day. Not just on Sundays, not just at Christmas, not just during Lent.

There is no reason to give anything up during Lent or start anything new. God doesn't want you to be able to go 40 days without coffee or without shopping or whatever, because this isn't an achievement that helps others or you grow in Christ. Unless these activities are where your time and effort goes instead of praising, worshipping and following God, you don't gain anything or benefit in any religious way from giving them up. It would be for your own reasons and not for God.

So if there's something that drains your time away from the Lord, by all means, surrender it or at least cut down on it. But again, that should be the case every day. You are fooling yourself if you think you only need to do it for Lent. If you're still sinning without repenting, but now during Lent you're doing that without drinking coffee... you're still sinning! See what I mean? That's the real and bigger issue at stake. That's what we should be addressing.

You are not any more a Christian if you give things up during Lent or any less a Christian if you don't. Our aim of discipline is to listen, obey and follow God's Word, God's plan and God's direction. Religious discipline is not about how long we can abstain from something we love to do or how long we can force ourselves to start doing something that we really don't want to do.

So, evaluate just what you're giving up and why during Lent

Happy Valentine's Day

We are all desperate to be loved and to love.

We innately search for significance and are created with the powerful need to belong. We seek acceptance from people and groups. We pursue worth in worthless places, taking our self-worth from other people. We establish our own value and worth based on how much our friends like us, how much our boyfriend/girlfriend likes us, how highly our parents regard us. We demand validation from invalid sources, thinking our worth is based on the things we do, the things we own or the amount of money we make.

But all those things are irrelevant. Our worth, our significance, our value comes from God and His love for us. That's all that matters. We can see God’s stubborn love and the absolute sacrifice He made for us when He gave up His son, Jesus Christ. It is only through a personal relationship with Him that we experience authentic love: a love that displaces thoughts of rejection and banishes feelings of abandonment. God loves you for who and what you are. God loves unconditionally, without taking into account anything else, that will never change for any reason.

"For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" - John 3:16

And if you ever feel that you aren't good enough, aren't wanted by anyone, or that you don't fit in, it is in this priceless gift of God's love that we comprehend the amazing truth - that even if we were never wanted or planned by a human heart and mind, we were always planned and wanted in the heart and mind of God!

The Lord gave me this message: "I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations" - Jeremiah 1:4-5

So on Valentine's Day, remember the one who loves you more than anyone else and how He will never leave you. If you have yet to accept God's love pouring over you, why don't you consider doing so today?

Thought of the Day: Dust

Most people are familiar with the Bible's teaching that Adam, the first human, was made from dust:

Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person (Genesis 2:7)

Today I was reading Psalm 103 and had a thought when I got to this verse:

The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are, he remembers we are only dust (103:13-14)

My thought was just a simple reflection - that we really are dust! I've heard people say how stupid it sounds that we are made from the dust of the earth, because actually we are extremely complex. It's true, we are indeed extremely complex. That shows God in itself. But at the same time, in simple terms, we are also nothing but dust. That's what dust is - dead skin cells. Saying that we're dust shows that we're still very fragile, despite our complexity, which is what's being highlighted in this psalm.