When I was a kid, Lent was a time where we gave up chocolate, but when I was in year 12 my religion teacher posed the question, "when you give up chocolate, who does that benefit?". He went on to say that it only benefits the person not eating the chocolate. Chocolate companies will lose out, and to be honest abstaining from chocolate probably won't bring you any closer to God. The words my teacher said really changed me from that day on, and from that point on Lent became a time for me to give up the things that drew me away from God.
This year, I'm making the effort to give up anger and greed. I've given up anger every year for the past couple years now, but I've yet to abstain from being greedy. Now when I say "greed", what I'll be abstaining from is purchasing material things for myself. This will be challenging because I buy a lot of clothes and I know I have a wedding in a month which I would have used as an excuse to buy a new dress, but the Bible teaches not to store up material possessions because the real treasure awaits us in Heaven. Now, if you don't share my beliefs, please don't think I'm forcing anything on you. I'm just sharing the new thing that I've done today. So for the next forty days, you won't see me angry or with any new outfits, and that suits me just fine, because I'd doing this for a greater purpose: to better my relationship with God.
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| This is what I've hung up on my wall. The small print are Bible verses which motivate me to give up greed and anger this Lenten season (Matthew 6:19,20; Matthew 6:24 and James 1:19,20) |
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