Lent is a time of self reflection. At least, a lot of people say that it is. But what does that really mean? And what are we supposed to accomplish in doing it?
Firstly, self reflection is a time that we set aside to get slower. Let me explain. Our lives are busy. We go from one thing to the next and often we don’t take a step back to look at the bigger picture. We can get so caught up in the day to day activities that we don’t stop and take stock of where we are going. We may not think much about what we have done and how to learn from our life experiences. It’s pretty easy to become driven by your calendar or day planner. Self reflection is an exercise that forces you to think about where you are spiritually and where you want to be.
If self reflection is so important, then why aren’t we doing it all the time? Good question. The same can be said of Christmas time too. Giving spikes in the month of December. This is probably because we associate Christmas with a spirit of giving. But why not be charitable year round? My guess is that we don’t make time for things like that. We make time for other things, or rather we allow other things to take our time.
What would we do if we had all of that time and didn’t have to use it for other things? The apostle Paul was in prison multiple times during his ministry. Four of his letters are called the Prison Epistles. They are Ephesians, Phillipians, Collosians, and Philemon. Here is one account where Paul talks about his imprisonment:
Phillipians 1:12-13
12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. 13 As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. 14 And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.
What did Christianity do for Paul? He was imprisoned many times. He was temporarily blinded. He constantly traveled and took on enormous responsibility. Why do this? What did he get out of it?
We can ask ourselves the same thing, can’t we? Why do we believe? What are we getting out of it?
A very simplistic answer to that question was posed by Pascal in the seventeenth century. He started by stating that God either exists or doesn’t exist. It is one or the other. Then he said that you are either a believer or you aren’t. That gives four possible outcomes for Pascal. If God exists and you are a believer, what happens to you? His answer was bliss, or Heaven. If God exists and you aren’t a believer, what happens then? Pascal said torment, or Hell. If God doesn’t exist then the answer is the same whether you are a believer or not: nothing happens. So, Pascal reasoned, you might as well be a believer. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose.
Pascal’s Wager makes a few assumptions, but the biggest one is this: we are believers because we want to go to Heaven. I call this the Earth-as-proving-ground way of thinking. But is a heavenly reward really the reason to believe? What would you do if an angel visited and told you there was no afterlife? Would your beliefs change then? Would you love God any less?
Jesus often talked about establishing the Kingdom of God, but did he mean this to be an afterlife-only thing? I think we can get our answer from the Lord’s Prayer:
Matthew 6:9-13
9 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’
Notice the bit about the “kingdom”? Jesus commands us to pray for God’s Kingdom to come to Earth. If believing was just about going to Heaven then I don’t think that would be in there. Christians are asked to help bring about God’s Kingdom here.
These are deep thoughts. But that is one of the things Lent is for. The season invites you to take stock of your spiritual life, to see where you are and were you want to be and think on how you can get there.
God Bless