"Giving Up" for Christ

We often hear about folks who “give up” something for lent.  Depending upon your background, that may sound strange.  After all, what does “giving up chocolate” have to do with the Passion of Christ?  The late Dr. Robert Webber explains it well in his book, “Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality Through the Christian Year:”

Lent is the time to identify a power working against us and crucify it with Christ and bury it in the tomb, never to be raised again…  Fasting controls the passion for food in order to deal with a passion of another sort that holds us in its grip.  The purpose of the ascetical fast is to liberate us from the power that flesh holds over the spirit…  For example, a person may fast as a means to experience victory over jealousy, envy, anger, lust, lack of integrity…  God works in conjunction with our will.  Consequently, the ascetical fast that deals with an issue of character development requires choice and intention on our part.  We have to exercise the power of our own will over against the powers of evil that continually draw us into habits of life that are contrary to the gospel (p. 114-115).

If you are celebrating Lent this year, here are some Scriptures to assist in your experience from this point forward.  If you didn’t start on Ash Wednesday (February 13^th), it’s not too late to begin the journey…

February 28^th – 1 Peter 1:8-17

March 1^st – 1 Peter 2:21-25

2^nd – 1 Peter 3:8-18

3^rd – 1 Peter 4:12-16

4^th – 1 Peter 5:6-11

5^th – Matthew 6:1-13

6^th – Matthew 18:15-22

7^th – Ephesians 4:25-32

8^th – Mark 11:19-26

9^th – Luke 7:36-50

10^th – Mark 5:21-43

11^th – Acts 2:37-41

12^th – 2 Timothy 2:8-13

13^th – 2 Timothy 4:16-18

14^th – Acts 10:39-46

15^th – 1 John 1:5-10

16^th – Romans 3:21-28

17^th – James 5:13-18

18^th – Romans 5:1-11

19^th – Romans 6:12-18

20^th – Romans 7:7-14

21^st – Romans 8:18-25

22^nd – John 12:1-7

23^rd – John 12:23-36

24^th – Matthew 21:1-16

25^th – Luke 22:39-62

26^th – Luke 22:63-71

27^th – Luke 23:1-10

28^th – Mark 15:1-14

29^th – John 19:1-37

30^th – John 19:38-42

31^st – John 20:1-31