Gary Gilley on Lent

Lent is the word used to denote the forty-day fast preceding Easter. In modern times it is usually observed from Ash Wednesday to Maundy Thursday (approximately six weeks). Its traditional purpose is to prepare believers for Easter through various forms of prayer and sacrifice. During Lent, many will participate in selective fasts or abstinence from luxuries or some types of food. (Joan) Chittister covers Lent in her chapter (from the book, "The Liturgical Year") entitled "Asceticism" and says, "Lent revolves around sacrifice.... We must be prepared to give up some things if we intend to get things that even are more important. Lent draws from the asceticism of early monasticism:

Ardent Christians, monastics, left the cities where narcissism held full sway to live as solitaries in the desert in order to do battle with the enemies of the soul. They practiced harsh penances and purged themselves completely of all worldly pleasures in order to witness to a life beyond this life, a life beyond the gratification of the body to the single-minded development of the soul.

Chittister is happy that the extremes of asceticism are a thing of the past; nevertheless, she applauds the goal of the ascetics which is to conquer themselves and develop their souls.". Asceticism is the idea that by putting our physical bodies through deliberate suffering and hardship we will master our inward passions. It is "through acts of asceticism, we learn the most difficult thing in life: we master the gift of self-conquest. We are no longer prey to our own excesses. Now we are in control of the most difficult material we'll ever confront—ourselves." The problem with asceticism is both that it doesn't work and more importantly, it is unbiblical. Paul clearly torpedoed the whole ascetic movement when he wrote in Colossians 2:20-23:

If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.

Deliberate asceticism, harsh treatment of the body and abstinence from acceptable activities, actions, and food, may have the appearance of spiritual activity but have no effect on our souls, nor do they enhance our spiritual development. Lent is a hold-over from ascetic practices of the past that have no direct spiritual value.

Adapted from Out of Formation: The Infiltration of the Spiritual Formation Movement and Its Impact on Evangelicalism by Gary E. Gilley