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What should you give up for Lent?
Published: 03/14/2001 | By: Jim Denison | Scripture: 0:
Topic: Easter, Resurrection | Series: Lent for the Soul and Mind | Occasion: None
Transcript
For most of my life, I've heard of people "giving up" something for Lent. One person I know gives up chocolate for Lent each year. Another person gives up television (the chocolate of the brain). I'd like to give up committee meetings for Lent. Unfortunately, church history won't allow the connection. Here's what it does allow.
In the first centuries of Christian experience, a Lenten-like fast before Easter was observed strictly. Only one meal a day was allowed, to be eaten at night. Meat and fish were forbidden. Eggs and milk products (called lacticinia by the Church) were excluded in most places as well.
In the ninth century things began to relax in the West, as the hour for breaking the fast was moved to 3 p.m. By the fifteenth century, even monks ate at noon during Lent. From the thirteenth century, light food was allowed at supper as well. Fish was allowed during Lent during the Middle Ages. From the fifteenth century on, even milk products were allowed.
On February 17, 1966, the Roman Catholic Church released a document entitled Paenitemini. It restricted the obligation of fasting during Lent to the first day of the season and Good Friday. In the Eastern Church, however, abstinence from meat, fish, eggs, and milk products during Lent is still practiced widely.
So, what should you give up for Lent? There is no specific biblical command to give up anything during the days before Easter. But a "fast" from something physical for the sake of something spiritual is commended throughout God's word. This can be as simple as skipping a meal and spending the time in prayer instead, donating the meal money to ministry. It can be fasting from television for Bible study, or from cell phones for solitude with God. Doing something sacrificial for the sake of our souls is especially appropriate during these days of Easter preparation.
What should you give up during Lent for Jesus' sake? Why not ask him?