Some thoughts on Lent

Growing up Baptist, I think my first exposure to the concept of Lent, in which someone gave up something for the period of time leading up the Easter, came from the movie 40 Days and 40 Nights. That was my senior year in high school and I don’t think I actually knew a catholic until one of my roommates a few years later in college. I guess because of this, I’ve never really ‘got’ Lent.

It was amusing last week as Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, approached. Most of the people in my immediate office are Catholics. This is true now for the first time in the 10 years in which I’ve work there. So, I think there is a bit of Baptists and Beer thing going on (if you go fishing, why should you take two Baptist instead of one? They’ll both watch the other to make sure they don’t drink your beer), in which they are all watching to see who is giving up what and who went to Ash Wednesday Mass. The best part was on Friday, as they are supposed to abstain from meat, one of them had already forgotten and was called out right before he ate a chicken biscuit. This is the same guy who ate steak every night for the week leading up to Lent, because that is what he was giving up.

If you don’t know, Lent is not in the Bible. We, as Christians, are not required to participate, or to fast, or really follow any particular rules about Lent. The concept comes from the Temptation of Christ, when he spent 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, fasting and preparing for his ministry. As a spiritual exercise, I find it fascinating. That being said, I don’t really understand how, and almost wish that the works and rules based requirements of Catholics were actually Biblical requirements. In a sense, it would be easy to give up something for the sake of giving up something. Or skipping meat on Fridays, just because, though fish is allowed, basically because Aquinas didn’t think it tasted good. Apparently, part of the fasting and abstinence is just to give up something you enjoy.

However, if you are seeking a spiritual discipline, and want a reason for what you are giving up, it becomes more difficult. I feel like I really need a why. It doesn’t work for me to say, I’ll give up pizza, because I like pizza. I guess, ultimately, that is often the point of fasting, but as a Lenten practice, it seems odd. Maybe this is due to wanting to have a counter balance. So, I give up pizza, what am I supposed to do with that? If I just replace it with something that is also good, like burgers, what have I gained. I’ve heard from some who fast from dinner on Fridays and instead spend the time they would be cooking and eating in prayer. That seems interesting. This is why I consider myself to only have had on successful Lent.

It was years ago, and I gave up video games and decided to use the time playing them when I get home from work, to read the Gospels. This did in fact change me. I started reading more, especially studying the Bible and theology, to the point that now I have a blog about book reviews. Also, I never regained the habit of playing video games only a daily basis and actually haven’t played any in a few years, ever since Sprout was a few months old.

In this way, I do think I completed a spiritual exercise. I have up something that was pointless, and began to study the Bible. But I’ve struggled to ever replicate this again. As you start to think about things to give up, you mind if often drawn away from spiritual things. For instance, the only other time I actually gave up something was last year, and I have up alcohol. Seemed like a good idea, but then I lost a few pounds from it, so it kind of became about health; plus I never found something to replace it with, or any kind of ‘why’.

As I talk with others looking to engage in a Lenten abstinence, the same issues seem to come up. People decide to get up earlier in the morning and go to the gym, or give up red meat or sugar, to lose a few points. Those are basically New Year’s resolutions. They are good things, nothing wrong with either of them, but tying them to God seems disingenuous. Likewise, people struggling with alcoholism or lust will give up getting drunk or porn. These are already things you shouldn’t be doing.

Anyway, I guess this is just a long way of saying, I don’t know how to Lent. I’d love to hear from any of my readers as to what you’ve given up and why, either this year or in the past. Finally, any good satire type things to give up are always appreciated, probably my favorite two that I’ve heard is people giving up their Catholicism, or giving up their virginity.

 

Daily Bible Reading Plans

I’ve been meaning to write a post about Bible Reading Plans and the pro’s/con’s of the M’Cheyne plan I used last year. Then I saw this video from Southern Seminary, and Dr. Whitney, author of Spiritual Disciplines, hit most of the broader points about reading plans.

I appreciate that he points out that there is no requirement to read the Bible, either daily or in a year, or to even read the whole Bible. We don’t want to be Pharisees,heaping requirements of behavior on people, especially ones that are not in the Bible. That being said, I think it is a good practice for every Christian to do something daily. I’m a big fan of those quick Daily Devotionals, my favorite so far is Utmost for His Highest, that usually have a short verse or part of a verse and then a brief commentary or pastoral message. The problem with those, is that you will not get the whole scope of the Bible. It will be mostly Gospels and Letters, with some Genesis, maybe Samuel (for the story of David) or some Jonah, and the Psalms.

For that reason, I think it is a worthwhile goal for every Christian to read the entirety of scripture, at least once. You could just open the Bible and get moving, but, honestly, you probably will not. It is hard, especially once you leave Exodus. You just feel bogged down. There are so many dates, genealogies, and then there is the repetitiveness. If you set out 15-20 minutes a day, you’ll start to feel like, ‘what did I just read?’ or ‘didn’t I read that a week ago?’. This is especially true in Kings, where the writer actually finishes a chapter or section with, ‘aren’t all these things written in Chronicles?’. You are sitting there thinking, ‘yeah man, I feel the same way.’

Thus the value in reading plans. As Dr. Whitney points out, there are multiple plans to follow, a lot of pre-made Bibles that are broken into that plan, and ones that have you reading different things. I know there is an ESV One Year Bible plan that starts in Genesis and Matthew. Another point about reading straight through, the OT books are long. Really long. You see the extent of this when you have the mixed up plans. You’ll read two Gospels and a couple of letters before you finish First and Second Samuel.

He also points out that you should look for a plan that has some ‘flex’, I’d slightly disagree and say, look for a plan that has days of the year in it. As in, a February 5th reading, a March 1st, etc. That was something I liked about the M’Cheyne plan. Also, the plan is a few hundred years old, so to know you are reading the same thing other Christians are today is pretty cool, but also the same thing someone in England read on February 5th, 1818, really connects you to the history and continuity of the church. I guess you’d have to endeavor to try to read the Bible a few times, to make up for the days you did miss. I suppose this is my plan. I’ve tried for two years so far, am not trying this year, might try next year, but certainly will try again two or three years in the future.

The biggest downside to the M’Cheyne plan, it is long. It isn’t just the whole Bible. It is the whole Old Testament, but it is the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs, twice. That sounds cool at first, but it gets long. I am a fairly quick reader, but it would take me 15 minutes easy, or longer, to do the daily reading. If you are a slow reader, this is not the plan for you. Unless you are just looking for a challenge, and can devote substantial time to it. I’d recommend the ESV One Year, or the Two year reading plan over the M’Cheyne. Especially the two year if you are a little slower at reading, or if the thought is too intimidating. Alternatively, the Book of Common Prayer has a daily reading plan, and it is actually spread out over three years. So, you are looking at something more like five minutes a day. You can find this plan online, in emails, on apps, pretty much everywhere except a pre-made Bible laid out in that order. Which is a downside to me.

Finally, though I enjoyed reading all parts of the Bible, because the reading was so long and so heavy, I felt it diminished my desire to read and study deeper certain parts of the Bible. I typically go deeper and look into commentaries and try to write some thoughts on scripture, but to add that to the M’Cheyne plan and to a Daily Devotional, just did not work for me. I was worn out, basically on Bible reading overload.

So that’s it, hopefully some helpful tips. I’d highly recommend every Christian try getting through the whole Bible at least once; but you have to have a plan of attack. Likewise, you need to be realistic about how, and how much you will read.

Book Review: Disciplines of a Godly Man

Disciplines of a Godly Man – R. Kent Hughes

My Rating – Must Read

Level – Fairly easy read, moderate length

Summary
As the title implies, this is a book about disciplines for men who are trying to live a ‘Godly’ life. After the introduction Hughes goes into the 17 disciplines he has identified as needed for men. He breaks these into four broad categories –

Relationships – which he identifies as the disciplines of purity, marriage, fatherhood, and friendship. He uses the story of David to illustrate the importance of purity. Originally written in 1991 and revised in 2001, there is the noticeable lack of discussion of internet porn. It seems almost funny (naive?) that he would warn about magazines like Playboy, which doesn’t even have nudity anymore. The chapters on marriage and fatherhood are about what you’d expect, though I think he does a good job of warning fathers not to be too harsh in punishment; something often quite lacking in the Christian world. He finishes this section with a chapter on friendship. This was a challenging chapter and a topic I think is often overlooked.

Soul – mind, devotion, prayer, and worship. Mind, encourages us to watch out mental intake. He points out the statistics of the amount of TV people watch on a daily basis as compared to the relatively small amount spent reading. He isn’t opposed to TV, just points out that for the most part, it is there just to kill time, and recommends different things to read instead – Scripture and Christian literature. Devotion, he breaks down into meditation (on the word), confession, and adoration. Prayer and worship are also as you’d expect, worship being specifically about importance of corporate worship.

Character – integrity, tongue, work, and perseverance. Being a man of integrity and clean speech are fairly typical, but the work aspect is unique. I found it especially telling that he would put a chapter on the importance of working in the character section of the book, and after reading the chapter and his arguments, one I fully agree with. The chapter on perseverance was also a new idea to me. His general point is that things aren’t easy, and it takes time to accomplish things, and often it is hard just to keep going. This chapter is a short, but helpful, call to focus on what God has laid out for you and to continue on the path.

Ministry – church, leadership, giving, witness, and ministry. Again, chapters like being involved in church, giving money, and witnessing (evangelism) are typical and as expected. Leadership is another short chapter that bring a different perspective, but something that is important for men especially. We are all called to be leadership in one aspect or another, work, family, the church, etc. He rounds out the section on ministry with a chapter about, well, ministry. By this he means the importance of actually doing something. Be involved, be willing to be uncomfortable, to be challenged, and to fail, if all for the glory of Christ.

Finally, there is a short epilogue with a concluding argument for the importance of Godly discipline and the correct response to grace God has given us. The book is then packed with another 50 pages or so of ‘resources’ including the hilariously dated ‘Bible on Audiocassette’, which, honestly, I’m surprised made it into the updated version (the word is so old that my spell-checker is telling me I have it spelled incorrectly). There are also Bible reading plans (including M’Cheyne, which I recommend), helpful Proverbs regarding speech, hymns, choruses, and praise Psalms. As a reading nerd, the most interesting resource to me was his reading survey. He asks a number of well known evangelicals questions regarding their favorite books. This in itself is probably worth the price of the book, and I should probably make it it’s own post.

Last note on the book, the cover clearly states that there is a complete study guide. This is not what you are probably expecting (unless there was a shipping error and I didn’t receive some sort of stand alone guide), as there isn’t a dedicated ‘study guide’ section. Instead, at the end of each chapter, are some thoughts and discussion questions.

My Thoughts
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Written very well in general, it especially pastoral in practice and effect. The typical disciplines you see (not a negative, they are always written about because they clearly Biblical and obviously important) written about are handled well, but the strength of this books comes from some of the other chapters that tackles things you don’t always see, such as friendship and work.

I’d say this is probably the best book on disciplines I’ve read so far. One major down side is that, obviously, it is mostly geared to men. Some chapters are universal disciplines, but are written about from man’s perspective, and some chapters are specifically for men. That being said, if you have a father, a son, a husband, or really just any man, this book is a must read on the disciplines that God expects of you.

 

Book Review: Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney

My Rating –Put it on the List

Level – Not very readable, seems longer than it is

Summary
The book is exactly what you think it is based on the title. He jumps straight in with the first chapter explaining what he thinks (based on scripture) the spiritual disciplines are and why they are important. There are 10 disciplines and he devotes two chapters to the first, and then one each to the others – Reading the Bible, Prayer, Worship, Evangelism, Serving, Stewardship, Fasting, Silence and Solitude, Journaling, and Learning. He wraps up the book with a chapter on ‘perseverance in the disciplines’ and the importance of making them habits.

I assume most are quite familiar with the first five, and likely stewardship as well, however he has a bit of a twist. When most people here that word in context of church, they think money (though, presently, some may start to associate it with the environment), but he talks about time as well. I think this is an interesting point, that I’ve never really heard discussed. Often in the American church it’s about what not to do, as in, avoiding sin, not instead, focused on what to do. Don’t spend your time getting hammered. Makes sense, that’d be a sin. However, what if you spent 12 hours on Saturday watching college football? Not a sin, but…is it really the best use of your time? Are you really being disciplined, are you gaining from that? Obviously, this hit home for me.

The others, many people are familiar with, but in the American Evangelical church, things like fasting and solitude sound a little too Catholicy, so I’ve never really heard them taught. I was especially intrigued with fasting. It is abundantly clear in scripture that this is something we ought to do. But, I’ve never in my life done it. I’ll admit, though he says you really aren’t supposed to ever tell, but I tried fasting based on this chapter and bits of Piper’s A Hunger for God, on Fridays during lent. I’ll write more on that later, but the book is probably worth the price just to read that chapter. Continue reading