One of the
religious traditions that has sprung up is the idea of giving
something up for Lent. How many of you have done that this year? I
won't ask what you gave up, but did anybody give something up for
Lent this year?
Here's my
confession: I did not. I never have. That's not to say there's
anything wrong with it. If you've given up something for Lent this
year, or if you're still considering doing it even though we're
already a week into Lent, I don't want to discourage you. It's just
not something I've ever done. I've never really seen how it would
help me.
Because that's the
reason behind giving something up for Lent, right? It's not just
something we do to deprive ourselves. We give up something for Lent
because it'll help us be better people. We give up something for
Lent because it'll bring us closer to God. We give up something for
Lent with the intent that doing it will change our lives in a
positive way.
And so, as I was
doing some reading and thinking about what to preach on during Lent
this year, I saw an idea that really hit me. The idea is that giving
up something for Lent can go beyond giving up “things”. We don't
have to give up chocolate or ice cream or facebook or anything like
that. What we can give up, and what would really change our lives if
we did give them up, are the feelings and attitudes and emotions that
get in the way of our relationship with God and keep us from being
the people God wants us to be.
We're going to
start with one of the toughest ones. We're going to start with
giving up control of our lives.
Have you ever tried
to do that? It's hard. It's really hard. We don't like to give up
control of our lives. We always want to be the ones in control.
In fact, think of
it this way. Think of a time when you were not in control. Think of
a time when other people were making decisions for you and you really
had no say in what was going to happen. One example
we've all gone through is when we're kids. Other people make the
decisions about what time we're going to get up and what time we're
going to go to bed, what time we're going to eat and what we're going
to eat, when we'll go to school, when we're allowed to go out and
where we're allowed to go, and on and on and on.
Maybe when we're
really little, we don't mind that so much. The older we get, though,
the more it bothers us. We want to be able to decide those things.
We want to decide when we'll go to bed and when we'll get up. We
want to decide what we'll eat and when, when we'll go out and where.
We don't like it that someone else is making decisions about our
lives.
I suspect being in
the military is somewhat like that. There are a lot of decisions you
don't get to make for yourself when you're in the military. When you
get an order from a superior, you're not allowed to say “no.”
You say “yes, sir” and you do it.
In fact, there's an
extent to which all jobs are like that. When the boss tells us to do
something, we have to do it. Depending on our relationship with the
boss, we may be able to ask questions or raise doubts or have a
discussion, but ultimately, if the boss says to do something, we have
to do it. We may not like it, but if we want to keep our jobs,
that's what we have to do.
Because there are
so many times in our lives when we're really not in control, we tend
to hold on even more tightly to those times when we are. When we
grow up, when we have free time, we want to make the decisions about
what we're going to do and when we're going to do it. We want to be
in charge of our own lives.
And then God comes
along. And God says, “give Me control of your life. Turn things
over to Me. Do the things I'm telling you to do. Live the way I'm
telling you to live.”
And we say, “What?
No way. I've got people telling me what to do and when to do it and
where to do it all the time. Now I'm supposed to give my life to
You? Forget it. I'm in charge here. I'm doing it my way.”
And we do. And
then we wonder why we seem to struggle so much. And we wonder why we
seem to be unhappy so much of the time. And we wonder why, even when
things are going well, we never really seem to be fulfilled. We
wonder why there's this emptiness in our lives, even when things seem
to be going okay.
We wonder about it.
Sometimes we even do something about it. Maybe we change jobs,
thinking that will make us happy. Maybe we buy more stuff, thinking
it'll fill the empty space in our lives. Maybe we take up a new
hobby, look for new friends, join some new group. We do all sorts of
things to try to find happiness and fulfillment in our lives.
And none of it
works. Oh, maybe it does, for a while. It gives us the illusion
that we're happier, anyway. Eventually,
though, the newness wears off, our enthusiasm wears off, and we're
right back where we were. And we start looking for the next big
thing, the thing that's going to fill our emptiness and make us
happy. And all the time, God keeps saying the same thing. “Give
Me control of your life. Turn things over to Me. Do the things I'm
telling you to do. Live the way I'm telling you to live.”
Jesus understands
why it's hard. We read the story from Matthew about the temptation
of Jesus. Think of what Jesus was tempted to do.
“Tell these
stones to become bread.” That does not sound like such a bad idea.
In fact, it sounds pretty awesome. Think of all the people who
could be fed. If we had the ability to turn stones into bread, we
could end hunger, right? Think of all the rocks there are. There'd
be enough food for everybody. And Jesus could've done it. Think of
how tempting that was for him. And all he had to do was stop giving
God control over his life, and take control for himself.
“Throw yourself
down” from the top of the temple. When the angels save you, think
of all the people who'll believe in you. Even the Pharisees would
have to believe that. I mean, if they saw angels carrying Jesus to
the earth so he would not be hurt, they'd all have to believe he was
the Son of God. That had to be a real temptation, too. And all he
had to do was stop giving God control of his
life, and take
control for himself.
“All this I will
give you, if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus could've had
control over the entire earth and everything and everyone in it.
Think of the good he could've done. Think of the lives he could've
saved. Think of the people he could've healed. That had to be the
biggest temptation of all. And all Jesus had to do was stop giving
God control of his life, and take control for himself.
Jesus knew that he
was not put on earth to be in control of his own life. Jesus knew he
was put on earth for a specific reason and a specific purpose. Jesus
knew he was put on earth to serve God. Jesus knew he would never be
happy, never be fulfilled, if he did not do that. So Jesus knew that
meant he needed to give God control of his life, and not take control
for himself.
That's true for
each of us, too. You and I were not put on earth to be in control of
our lives. Each of us is put on earth for a specific reason and a
specific purpose. Each of us is put on earth to serve God. We will
never be happy, never be fulfilled, if we do not do that. That means
each of us needs to give God control of our lives, and not take
control for ourselves.
“But Jesus was
the Son of God.” Yes, he was. And that made it even harder.
Because Jesus knew what giving God control of his life meant. Jesus
knew he was going to be arrested. Jesus knew he was going to be
beaten. Jesus knew he was going to be tortured. Jesus knew he was
going to be killed, and killed in a very painful way. And Jesus knew
he did not have to let it happen. He could avoid it. All he had to
do was stop giving God control of his life, and take control for
himself. He could avoid the pain—but he could not gain happiness
or fulfillment.
You and I are
children of God, too. But we don't know what know what giving God
control of our lives will mean. We don't know what's going to happen
to us. We're afraid of what might happen if give God control of our
lives. We can avoid that fear if we take control for ourselves. We
can avoid the pain we fear—but we cannot gain happiness or
fulfillment.
Each of us is put
on earth for a specific reason and a specific purpose. Each of us
was is put on earth to serve God. We will never be happy, never be
fulfilled, if we don't do that. This Lenten season, instead of
giving up TV or chocolate or anything else, let's give up control of
our lives. That's something we can give up that will change our
entire lives.
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