Lent is a tradition, but as with every tradition, it can lose its meaning. It’s better to have no Lent at all than to do it just because you can — or to do it for strictly self-serving reasons.

Of course, it’s even better to do it with intentionality as an act of worship, preparation for the mystery of Easter-tide, to turn away from sin, and to cling to the gospel of grace with purity.

Lent exists. It’s a fact. So whatever you do with Lent, do it with intentionality. If you will abstain from Lent (ironically), abstain on purpose. If you participate, participate on purpose.

The following is Colossians 2-3. I changed the format into a poem, to highlight things that stood out to me. The formatting, therefore, is not infallible, but the words themselves are inspired by God’s Holy Spirit. At the end of the two chapters, I will state my main conclusions.

My hope is that God will work through these couple chapters, just as they have helped me, to think about Lent, to understand some potential pitfalls, which will actually distract you from the gospel and the heart of this tradition, and ways you specifically can honor God through your commitments during the next 40 days.

 

Colossians 2-3, New International Version (NIV)

I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea,
and for all who have not met me personally.

My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love,
so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding,
in order that they may know the mystery of God,
namely, Christ,
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.
For though I am absent from you in body,
I am present with you in spirit
and delight to see how disciplined you are
and how firm your faith in Christ is.

Spiritual Fullness in Christ

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,
continue to live your lives in him,
rooted and built up in him,
strengthened in the faith as you were taught,
and overflowing with thankfulness.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy,
which depends on human tradition
and the elemental spiritual forces of this world
rather than on
Christ.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
and in Christ you have been brought to fullness.
He is the head over every power and authority.

In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands.
Your whole self ruled by the flesh
was put off
when you were circumcised by Christ,
having been buried with him in baptism,
in which you were also raised with him
through your faith
in the working of
God,
who raised him from the dead.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh,
God made you alive
with Christ.

He forgave us
all
our sins,
having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness,
which stood against us and condemned us;
he has taken it away,
nailing it to the cross.

And having disarmed the powers and authorities,
he made a public spectacle of them,
triumphing over them by the cross.

Freedom From Human Rules

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink,
or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
These are a shadow of the things that were to come;
the reality, however,
is found in Christ.

Do not let anyone who delights in false humility
and the worship of angels
disqualify you.
Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen;
they are puffed up
with idle notions
by their unspiritual mind.

They have lost connection with the head,
from whom
the whole body,
supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews,
grows as God causes it to grow.

Since you died with Christ
to the elemental spiritual forces of this world,
why,
as though you still belonged to the world,
do you submit to its rules:
“Do not handle!
Do not taste!
Do not touch!”?

These rules,
which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use,
are based on merely human commands and teachings.
Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom,
with their
self-imposed worship, their
false humility and their
harsh treatment of the body,
but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Living as Those Made Alive in Christ

Since, then,
you have been raised with Christ,
set your hearts on things above,
where Christ is,
seated at the right hand of God.

Set your minds on things above,
not on earthly things.
For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ,
who
is
your
life,
appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature:
sexual immorality,
impurity,
lust,
evil desires and
greed, which is
idolatry.
Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.
You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.

But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these:
anger,
rage,
malice,
slander, and
filthy language from your lips.

Do not lie to each other, since you have
taken off your old self with its practices and have
put on the new self,
which is being
renewed
in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with
compassion,
kindness,
humility,
gentleness and
patience.
Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone.
Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body
you were called to peace.
And be thankful.
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you
teach and
admonish
one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with
gratitude
in your hearts.

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it
all
in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Instructions for Christian Households

Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it,
not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but
with sincerity of heart and
reverence for the Lord.

Whatever you do, work at it with
all
your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you
know
that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.

It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs,
and there is no favoritism.

***My conclusions***

  1. The foundation of our faith is Christ. Not empty philosophy. Not new intellectual considerations. Not pride in the accumulation of experiences and good deeds. Having been built on Christ, don’t start tipping over and leaning on something else. Keep rooted in Christ.
  2. Where do you stand with God? Without Christ, you stand condemned, and you live in slavery to the flesh. Once you receive Christ, his account is switched with yours. He takes on the wrath you deserved, so that you can be reconciled to God. Once this transaction occurs, it cannot be undone. Any debt you accumulate will only show on Christ’s account — Christ, who alone is adequate to repay these debts. You are free in Christ from guilt and condemnation. You are free in Christ from the slavery of sin, addiction, and self-loathing. You are free in Christ to accept God’s love and blessings without guilt or repayment. You are free in Christ to live a life of thanks, rather than self-centered self-justification.
  3. Sin is associated with death. But in Christ, you have been made alive. Make this clear in your life. If you are alive, don’t associate yourself with death. If you are free, don’t return to prison. This is a disgrace to the one who set your free. Now that you are free, honor Him, not to earn your freedom, but rather to make his work as worthwhile as possible. If someone buys you a gift card, their purchase does no good unless you spend the card. Spend your freedom, then, in a way that will make the Purchaser glad that He did what He did.
  4. Our sins may still have temporary consequences, but the eternal consequences of our sins have been removed. Therefore, the eternal consequences of our sins in the lives of others are also removed. Therefore, the pressure on our lives has been removed, so that we can be free from the weight of the world, and free to live a life of thankfulness and trust — that is, belief that Christ’s work on the cross was sufficient to save the world; belief that He will ultimately bring justice to every human being; and belief that His work in the long-term is no less applicable in the details of our lives. The hope we have in the future will affect the way we live now. Losing sight of hope will only bring confusion, and keeping our hope on His eternal plan is the most logical and beneficial thing we can do.
  5. Christ fulfilled the law, so that we no longer live in slavery to rules and regulations. Therefore, any rules we make for ourselves should not be to justify ourselves, or cause us to fall back into slavery to those rules. If the rules we make distract us from Christ, or from the ultimate He has offered us and the world, the rules have no value. If we expect the rules to keep us from sinning, they will fail us, because sin is an attitude of the heart, which can exist even in the absence of an actual physical indulgence.
  6. However, if the rules we make are done as an act of worship to God, then they are of benefit. If the rules we have bring our hearts closer to the gospel, and further away from slavery to sin, they are worthy of practicing.
  7. Let us not, then, make rules to impress others, to make ourselves feel better about ourselves (self-justification), or rely on dead formulas to resolve a heart issue only a living God could resolve. Instead, let us make available a way for God to exercise His power in our hearts, whether through surrender of, commitment to, or maintenance of practices, in accordance with the purpose of the work He accomplished on the cross. Then, as we head into the holy-day of Easter, we will have positioned ourselves before the cross in such a way that we can better experience the weight of this sacrifice, the crux of human history, the greatest mystery of the universe. Amen.