IT’S RIGHT ENOUGH TO THINK OF LENT AS spiritual work—something we do, try, give up, add, or offer to God. But anything we do with God is both analogous—comparable—and disanalogous—completely incomparable—to its counterpart in the human realm. If Lent is spiritual labor, spiritual exercise, it does us the most good when offered to God and done his way. Just as stopping in God’s time can mean advancing, and giving can mean receiving, and being last is first and best, work in Lenten time is also Sabbath.

But during Lent, anything we remove from or add to our lives as a discipline should only serve to create room for more attention to God—to let the land lie fallow for a season. We refrain from grabbing all we can and instead reduce (even reduce what we expect from Lent, perhaps!), slow down, and pay attention to what thoughts, feelings, or desires might come nosing out of the woods of our hearts, like wild animals searching for Sabbath grapes.

In Lenten time, constraints should lead to liberty. They’re an invitation to feel our need for the Lord, for his mercy, provision, and timing, so that in this looser, more “jubilee” frame of mind, we might lighten our heart’s load.

Inhabit (a devotional journal for Lent by Dwell)

1 Timothy 4: 7-8

⁷ Don’t waste time arguing over foolish ideas and silly myths and legends. Spend your time and energy in the exercise of keeping spiritually fit. ⁸ Bodily exercise is all right, but spiritual exercise is much more important and is a tonic for all you do. So exercise yourself spiritually, and practice being a better Christian because that will help you not only now in this life, but in the next life too.

WHO ARE THE “FOOLS” WHO “SAY IN THEIR HEARTS, ‘There is no God’” (Psalm 53:1)? We don’t see atheists doing far worse things than other people. In fact, where we find the most heinous deceits, abuses of power, and oppressions, they are often done for religious reasons, from church leaders who bully to militant groups who kill in the name of God.

God comes to earth to see if there is anyone who believes in him with a pure heart, who acts as if he truly exists. And he finds … no one! A humbling truth. At one level or another, all of us live from deceit, doubt, or fear rather than trust in God. And yet there does seem to be another group, an exception: “my people.” God’s people are God’s treasure, and the fools (religious or not) are simply those who “eat up my people as they eat bread” (Ps 53:4). God’s people obey him enough to be mistaken for fools in the world’s eyes. In contrast, the real fools, in doubt and fear, become greedy in their behavior, regardless of what they profess to believe.

Are we God’s people, or are we fools? In the revelation of Christ, we see we are both. We are welcomed in God’s name, and as we approach, we know our foolishness and greed more and more intimately in the light of his holiness and are set free to repent. This is how the Lord restores the fortunes of his people. This is how he saves fools.

Inhabit (a devotional journal for Lent by Dwell)

In honor of this season, I will be posting inspiring music for most of the next 40 days. I hope you’ll use this music as an opportunity to quiet and settle yourself; for contemplation, preparation, and thanksgiving. May you be encouraged and realize the felt presence of Peace and Love as you hear the music; may you hear the message meant for you in each of the musical offerings. Wishing you peace and every good!