This Close, Yet Miles Away

Today is the day before the Lenten season begins for Christians. Last year at this time, I also blogged about Lent and called those who wanted to build Christian discipline in their life to engage in a study of 1 Peter and following a corresponding Disciplines Guide that I created. Those who truly wanted to grow in their faith took advantage of the opportunity and participated in that exercise or in one of their own choosing. And they experienced various degrees of success, as would be expected. That’s because Disciplines do not create holiness in our lives, but rather give us opportunities to reprioritize in order to allow the Lord to transform our heart and mind. Or else, they just make us miserable.

And that’s the problem with religion. The Lenten season has been viewed by pre- and post-Christians alike as the climax of the religious life, denial and misery. Rather than concentrating on what the season offers us, we focus on the process and what it prohibits. You can’t blame pre-Christians for this; we have created this perception ourselves. They are simply observing us. And to make matters worse, we created a celebration before the season, the party before the world ends, Mardi Gras.

Today is Mardi Gras (French for “Fat Tuesday”). It is a day to party like it’s the end of the world, since the next day, Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, surely is the end of living life according to our selfishness. And the world loves a party, especially one where all social conventions are overturned and flesh is king. Secret: The church loves it too.

Fat Tuesday was our creation, not theirs. But we sit back on our “blessed assurance” and direct chubby fingers pronouncing judgment toward them. The truth is: Fat Tuesday is a better reflection of the condition of Christ’s Church than of the lost world. We have gotten fat. Our faith is about us. The gospel is about us. Our Sunday morning religious expressions are about us. It’s all about us. God should bless us because we are so wonderful, and He should torture everyone else so that we can really appreciate how much better we are than they. Lost is our mission. Lost is following after our Suffering Servant. Lost is offering yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

The church has become fat on its reliance upon doctrinal knowledge to be its salvation. Jesus didn’t come to give us Bible studies. We have become fat on our traditions that create divisions in the church that Christ gave His blood to create. Jesus didn’t come to give us denominations. We have become fat and lazy, like Eli (1 Samuel 1-4), trusting that we are the chosen people of God while we mock Him with our religious activities. Jesus didn’t come to enslave us to rules and to make us miserable.

So, how do we recover from Fat Christianity? Well, it starts with right theology. It starts with taking another look at the God who became man in order to show us both Who He is and how we must become. Our faith has a focus, Christ, and an expression, the world. You see, Jesus didn’t come to give us a comfortable, prosperous life, but that doesn’t make us miserable because He is our treasure. But He did come to give us joy abundant. After all, it was He Who said, “The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life” (John 10:10).

So, shape up, Church. Fatties have no place in the Kingdom of God.