The temple veil has been torn and Lent?

"It's Cadbury season*." Otherwise known as Lent for our Catholic friends. It is also known as Lent for our confused Christian friends. A group of myself and some christian friends of mine have a joke we tell around this time year.

"I'm giving up Lent...er, for Lent"**

I can never help but to think to myself, "Jesus came to earth to die on the cross to redeem the "world" and you, my friends debate giving up Pepsi (or sugar, or smoking, or drinking, or TV -thank God for TIVO-, or -gasp- the internet, or whatever) for 40 days."

Hey, give up water and salad and multivitamins for what good it'll do you.

You could try recording your favorite late night show and spend the time praying with your wife before bed. But not for 40 days.

For the rest of your life.

"There is no "season" to repentance. We are to live a life of repentance and repent every day, our whole life long. This whole idea of a season of repentance is wrong headed in my opinion. We die to sin and self and serve the Lord everyday throughout our entire life."***

I don't mean to sound harsh by this post. I only mean to sound true. If you want to give up some luxurious thing and spend the new found time or energy focusing on dying to self and bettering your understanding of heavenly things then, by all means, go right ahead. And if this endeavor coincides with a famous Roman Catholic practice, then well, great timing, I guess.

But if you require the misguided practice of "seasonal repentance" as promoted by a non-christian institution to motivate you to your knees, you should probably look beyond your diet or your TV and look to your heart.

I propose that Christ is more concerned with your life-long obedience to Him rather than to a calender.

*Cody Wells
**Everett Henes
***Mark Gibson