Gifts of Lent: Rest From Artificial Comfort

Since the birth of the Church, Christians have fasted during Lent. I’ve either fasted from (or known people who have): coffee, sweets, Facebook, online gaming, the internet, television.

The idea is to make more space for an awareness of God’s presence and voice in your life by eliminating things that are holding a too-prominent place in your heart. Another way to think of it is taking a rest from something that, in a sense, has enslaved you. We’ve all experienced that overwhelming desire to do or eat something, the kind of feeling that doesn’t feel optional.

Doing a thorough heart check and then taking a rest from anything that we are afraid to let go of, is an act of “self-emancipation.” I heard this term for the first time last summer as we crossed paths with the Underground Railroad while traveling in the East. I loved it so much better than “runaway slave” because it shows that these individuals had more than an ability to run. They had power to change their whole identity. In fact, their identity was personhood, which slavery had denied.

When we lay down the power that things have over us, we declare that our identity is not in them. We are not the things we do or consume. Our value is declared by the love of our Heavenly Father who sent His only Son to die for us so that we can spend eternity with Him. (John 3:16) Our habits, even those that began as lighthearted fun, can become burdens to bear as we daily cling to their comfort.

Taking a rest from the weight of artificial comfort reminds our hearts that we were made to be comforted by the God of all comfort. We can then, in turn comfort others (2 Corinthians 1:3-4), like Harriet Tubman going back South to show her people the way to freedom.

Wonder what you might gain by resting from false comfort? Check out these verses to start:

Psalm 37:4, Zephaniah 3:17, Philippians 4:13, Hebrews 4:16, James 4:6