Giving Our Best During Lent

It’s never easy to give our best, or to give up something in order to better ourselves. During Lent it is easy to confuse the sacrifice with self-determination. Lent does not exist to diet, to think more positively, or to be a better you. The purpose of Lent is to realign our hearts and minds on Christ.

The christian life is not an easy one. It calls for constant reconciliation, stretching beyond our limits, grasping and trying to make sense of mysteries, and loving where it seems impossible. Ash Wednesday - February 10, 2026 is the beginning of a season to mark our relationship with the divine.

A relationship goes two ways.

Giving the Best - Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Lent is a reminder that a relationship goes two ways. God loves us, His creation, fiercely. His divine love is like no other.

In return we are asked to give God our best. Deuteronomy 26:1-11 reminded the Israelites of all God had given them. It is a reminder of their ancestory, their struggle in Egypt, their deliverance, and God’s provision. In return they were to honor God with the best, the first fruits of their crop. The majority of us do no grow our own produce or raise our own livestock in the way these Israelites did. However, we can still give to God the best of what we do have. Our time and our talents are one way. Our communities are filled with varying talents that when merged together can create great things. We are to celebrate His goodness and provision along with family, friends, and outsiders.

These verses describe a time of remembrance and celebration. Lent represents the same. It is a time to reflect on our relationship on God, to remember all He has brought us through and the many ways in which He has provided. It is a time of inner-reflection as we approach the great celebration of His resurrection.

Protection - Psalms 91:1-2, 9-16

We have not been promised that suffering will never happen. In remembering their past the Israelites fully recognized the oppression their people lived through. In remembering our own nation’s past it is easy to see the hard times, the oppression and slavery, the wars both abroad and civil. During those times it is easy to ask where was God. There are various attempts at answering this question. Some helpful, some degrading.

In my own life, as I look back, I’ve realized that in the midst of suffering God was still there. Even when I despised Him, He continued to love and pursue me. (see Will God hold on to us if we let go of Him?)

In Psalms 91 it speaks of God as our shelter and stronghold. It is not promising that bad will never come, only that we need not fear (vs. 5). God is our comfort and our strength in the worst of life. Fear need not guide us if we trust the one who loves us like no other.

Salvation - Romans 10:8-13

God’s divine love was first introduced to us through His provision and favor towards the Israelites. Yet throughout the Old Testament there is a theme of welcoming in the foreigner, the alien. We see it in the stories of Rahab and Ruth, we are constantly reminded of it in verses like Deuteronomy 26:11. It is even stronger in the New Testament, in Jesus’ life and in the testimony of those who write about His ministry.

In Romans 10:8-13 salvation is offered to all who believe and call on the name of the Lord. That same protection and love that was offered to the Israelites is offered to everyone of us. We all have a story. Do you see God and grace in your’s?

For many of you who give up something (whether it is dietary, entertainment, or a habit of some kind) Lent can easily become a season of temptation. It is a time to empty ourselves of distraction and to fill our emptiness with Christ.

The desert and wilderness are strong themes throughout Scripture. It was where God spoke to Hagar by the well, where the Israelites wandered as they sought God’s guidance to the promised land. In my own life the Chihuahua Desert has been a place of growth and reflection. And the beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry leading to the cross began in the wilderness where He faced temptation. The temptation that comes with Lent is a physical reminder of the forty days Christ endured temptation from the devil.

Luke 4:1-13 records the interactions between Christ and the temptations of physical hunger and power that were presented to Him. Though Christ was physically hungry He was full of the Holy Spirit. When we turn our thoughts to Christ during our moments of weakness during Lent we are realigning our hearts and living in remembrance of Christ’s earthly ministry, particularly this moment when He too was tempted but relied instead on the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

2016 Revised Common Lectionary / First Sunday in Lent / February 14th

Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalms 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13