Do you give up anything for Lent?  Perhaps you take on a discipline as some do as well.  Do you know that the Christian practice of giving things up almost closed down McDonalds?  This practice of giving things up evolved into a Western Christianity tradition of not eating meat on Fridays.  This led to several McDonalds actually closing in the early 1960’s.  in 1962 a franchise owner, Lou Green developed the Filet-O- Fish sandwich to try and help with this.  It became so popular that many credit it with saving McDonalds.  Giving up meat or coffee or social media is an interesting concept and can be useful to focus on prayer or other things.  This idea of giving up and taking on things is a very Western practice but it’s roots come from the idea of putting off the flesh or old self and putting on the spirit or new self.  Let’s look together at one description of this from Ephesians 4. 

17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. 20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. 25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

I hope that whatever you are giving up or taking on leads to a time of refreshment and renewal in your relationship with Jesus.  More than this though I would pray that we all live more and more in the spirit and less in the flesh in our daily lives.  Whether you eat a Filet-O-Fish or a Bacon Double Cheeseburger today I pray that we all learn to more and more walk in the spirit in our lives. 

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave