“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”
-Romans 12:1-9
That’s kind of a weighty passage to start this one off with, right? Well.....this is a lot of what the post is about....our bodies are living sacrifices to be used for God’s great glory and for Him to mold us more into His image as He wills.
So, just to give you a little background on me (I’m pretty sure that anyone who might ever read this actually knows all this stuff, but I’m just trying to make sure), I became a follower of Christ as the age of 11. So, I’ve lived for 2/3 of my life to this point as a Christ-follower and God has used many events in my life to bring me to the point where He has me today. And, since that time, I’ve identified myself with the teaching and doctrine in the Southern Baptist Church. So, you may find yourself asking the same question that one of the elders in my church did: “Why is a good Baptist girl participating in Lent?” Not only that, Why in the world are others in my small group giving things up for Lent too?? Before you continue reading, I just want to say that it’s my sincere hope that the love and mercy and grace that Christ has shown me in my salvation alone comes through in what you are about to read about this journey.
After having lived 2/3 of my life as a Christ-follower, this is the first that I’ve ever been convicted to participate in Lent. I’ve heard of it a lot throughout my life and I knew a lot of people while I was in college who practice Catholicism, but I never understood this whole Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday overindulgence leading to Ash Wednesday and giving up something (most of the time, it was something almost insignificant) until Easter...until this year. For about a month and a half or so leading up to this Lenten season, I was having my regular quiet times with the Lord and feeling incredibly convicted that we (the Church) don’t take enough time to fast and pray. We (or, at least I) don’t participate in regular fasting for the lost people in our neighborhoods or families that we know by name, much less those that are lost around the world and the people that we have sent out to work amongst them and to tell them about Christ and salvation through Him alone. We (again, or at least I) don’t fast enough for urgent physical needs around the world to be met or for God to send laborers into His harvest field to work. As I was working through this conviction, the Lord led to me to give up all food and only take in water 1 day a week and He allowed me to be devoted to spending more time with Him in prayer and in His Word. Also during this time, my church began walking through the book of Matthew and we came to chapter 4.....where the heading reads, “The Temptation of Jesus.” My pastor mentioned a book titled Tempted and Tried by Russell Moore, which I quickly purchased and began to read. As I was reading this book, I became even more convicted toward fasting and prayer and then I came to a part of the book that opened my eyes to this journey I’m on right now. He mentioned that all of our lives should experience times of feasting and times of fasting. Then, he gave the analogy about Mardi Gras and Lent and said that this is what they have right - it’s a period of feasting leading to an extended period of fasting. Now, what I take him to mean here is NOT what Mardi Gras has become today, but rather what it was before when this time served as feasting to rid the home of items that were forbidden during the Lenten season.
As I read that, I became more and more convicted by the significant picture that this time period and level of sacrifice represented. I also presented the conviction to my small group as something I was struggling with and I also challenged them to pray to give up something for Lent and that we could all hold one another accountable and walk through this journey together. During this time, I was praying specifically about what God wanted me to give up. WELL.....if you know me, you know I like to eat! I sincerely enjoy food, but since I’ve gotten a trainer, my list of foods I could eat a lot had rapidly dwindled. Here’s how the process went as I sought the Lord in what to give up:
- First, I thought, “I could give up going out to eat.” Would this really be a sacrifice since my trainer had already limited me to no more than 2 meals out per week? My answer was No, not really.
- Then, I thought, “I could give up fried food.” After realizing, once again, my trainer had limited my amount of that too, only she said I could only eat fried food once a month!! So, that’s not really a sacrifice either....
- Option #3 was, “I could give up sweets.” I don’t really have a sweet tooth and it’s nothing for me to go without sweets for 40+ days.
- Thought #4, “I could give up meat.” NOW we’re talking!!! I eat some type of meat for almost every meal every day! As I continued to pray through this thought, I was led to more and more information on the Daniel Fast, which is based from the first chapter of the book of Daniel. In case you don’t know anything about the Daniel Fast, you cut out all meat, all animal by-products, all caffeine, all sugar (and sugar substitutes), and all preservatives.
The more I prayed about this last option, I knew that’s where the Lord was leading me to follow Him. I’d had a couple friends to do the Daniel Fast for the 21 day time frame and they all lived, so surely it can’t be too terrible, right? One thing did come to my mind, though.....I haven’t known anyone to do this for an entire Lenten season (a total of 45 days from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday; 47 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter). But, with as much as I had been praying about it, I had no doubt in my mind that this was what the Lord was leading me to do.
Now, to the point of this particular post.....since this is day # 33 (not that I’m counting, but at this point, I’m totally counting - I have a completely new perspective on how long 40 days ACTUALLY is.....it’s MUCH longer than you might think), what all have I learned from this journey? I know that you’re probably expecting me to say that I’ve learned that food really isn’t that big a deal and we can live on so much less than we think. And, while, yes, that’s definitely true (to a degree), I’m going to be a little more real with you than that. I’ll just outline a few of the lessons that I’ve learned so far:
- I really feel like I have a greater appreciation of those who lived under the Old Covenant Law and sacrifice systems. I wonder, with all of the restrictions placed on them regarding food and so many other things, how in the world could they do it?? Many people have told me, “yeah, but it wasn’t as hard for them to find things without preservatives back then.” While that’s entirely true, it was still very restricting for them to limit their intake to only certain types of fish and no animals with a split hoof, etc....so, I feel like I have a small picture of some of the things that they experienced
- I don’t really enjoy eating anymore.....I just do it because I have to in order to make sure I have enough energy to finish my workouts or to not be too hungry
- Grocery shopping is no longer enjoyable in the least bit (It wasn’t too enjoyable before, but it’s even less enjoyable now). But, I have to walk past all of the food in the store that I can’t have to get to the very few items that I actually can have
- It’s FAR more expensive to eat this way!!! But, praise God that it’s very hard to eat out and still follow these rules, so I’m saving some money that way in order to be able to offset the costs of eating so many fresh or specialty foods
- I get tired MUCH more easily and I find that I actually do need between 7-8 hours of sleep each night rather than the 6-7 hours I would typically get
- My body does actually feel better! Even without the caffeine!! My main challenge is being able to get enough protein for good muscle health and the ability to finish my workouts (I do still have a protein shake each morning - this is the only thing that I allow myself to have that’s not “fast friendly” but I didn’t think it wise to go from eating about 100g protein each day down to less than 50g for 45 days).
- I’ve gained 1% body fat in the past 33 days!! That’s right, I’ve started boot camp and been working out for over an hour 5 days a week and have gained 1% body fat.....I typically don’t eat foods this high in fat on a regular basis, but in order to get natural sources of protein without meat, I don’t really have a choice.
- I feel like I don’t have much time to focus on my singleness (or the fact that I don’t really like it) because I am having to cook all the time and find meals that follow the rules of this fast
- I find that I’m thinking so much more about food than I ever have before trying to make sure that I don’t mess up....although, I am almost positive that each time we take communion on Sunday, I fail (at least I’m almost positive that our crackers have some sugar in them and I doubt that our grape juice has no sugar or preservatives added).
- I have been so comforted in the fact that God does provide such good gifts that we can’t even imagine or ask for (Ephesians 3:20-21). I’ve seen him work so much in these few weeks (almost 5 at this point) because of my simple obedience to follow Him and give up certain food items
- Every week, when “I fail”, I’m always reminded of God’s grace and mercy and provision that He allows me to not only follow Him, but also to be able to follow Him in this journey in particular. I’m reminded constantly that there is no quality in me that can sustain this practice for even a day without God’s divine strength and grace leading me to rely solely on Him during this journey. It’s a great reminder that goes back to the section of Romans 12 quoted above with regard to using the faith in the proportion that it’s given.....He has definitely increased my faith and added responsibility to me throughout this journey in ways and places that I had no idea He was going to
Here are a couple of questions I’ve gotten along the way that could also give you a little insight into this amazing journey:
- Are you enjoying this? The physical effects and desires to eat almost everything I’ve given up - NO.....I am certain that I wouldn’t willingly give all of these things up without the Lord leading me to!! BUT, the lessons that I’ve learned from God and the amazing time I’ve been allowed to spend with Him - ABSOLUTELY!!!!
- If it’s not something you’re enjoying, why don’t you just stop? There are a number of reasons I don’t stop, honestly. The first, and probably most simple, is that it’s a matter of simple obedience. I feel like my generation is so tempted by the here and now that if we aren’t enjoying an experience or it’s not making us “happy,” we know that we can just stop and the effects would be over. But, to me, this is a commitment to the Lord, not to myself or to anyone else on the planet. It’s between the Lord and me and I know that He will sustain me in my weakest moments when I want a steak or when I sit beside a birthday cake for 3 hours at a party for a family member....these are the moments that God uses practical things that He leads us to so that He can show us even more grace and mercy in the midst of temptation and trial.
- Is this something that you plan on continuing to practice? NO!!! There are aspects that I’ll most likely try to continue to implement, but mostly, I won’t continue to eat this way. A part of me is a little concerned about timing to add certain things back into my diet and I will definitely be spacing it out a bit. But, I’ll be ending my fast on Good Friday and I already plan to eat a salad with some feta and pita bread, to have some meat and to have a piece of cake! I’m thinking it’ll be at least a week before I add anything fried back into my diet, but we’ll see.
- You know that most Catholics take Sundays off as days of celebration, right? Are you doing that? To answer the first one.....I didn’t know this until after I started. No, I’m not taking Sundays off.....I feel that this entire journey is a celebration of Christ’s sufficiency to cover my sin and the fact that I have no abilities or ground that can stand before God apart from Christ because I have no power apart from Him. I also wonder, on a practical, human, level - what good is it to take off every Sunday? You really only fast for 6 days at a time....it’s a whole lot easier to give up something for 6 days knowing that you’ll get a chance to indulge in it again every 7th day. I simply feel that it takes away from the power that’s necessary from the Holy Spirit to maintain the journey if you take a break every 6 days....it would be far easier for me to try to follow this pattern on my own terms and in my own power, rather than having to completely rely on the sufficiency of God through Christ and His Spirit in order to walk this journey.
In the past few years, I have been known to say that what happens to me isn’t for me alone, but others can also learn and grow from the experiences God has brought into my life. So, if you have any more questions about this particular journey or anything else you want to know, definitely ask.....I am convinced that God teaches us things for our good (of course), but also to share for the edification and building up of others! Hopefully, someone will be encouraged by this.....hopefully.
