I am consistently asking myself questions like “why do we do that”; “what does the Bible say about this topic”; “is there an element of truth, but not complete truth regarding the subject?”  One such area on my radar lately is customs practiced in The Church.  Galatians 4:10 NLT says:  “You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years.”  There are some customs that are observed in various denominations today that are neither found in the Bible nor apply to us as they are Old Testament events.  The purpose of this blog is to discuss and evaluate how a few customs may be misleading, or how we can be unaware of why we are observing the tradition.

I listened last week to the hosts of a local secular station talk about Lent and the latest story to hit national news…an Ohio man committing to only drink beer for Lent (no food).  Then one host went on to talk about his own participation in Lent and desire to get back into going to church for the sake of his young son.  The whole conversation was dis-heartening to me because it centered on all the wrong things.  Love of God, spiritual growth, and drawing near to God were never mentioned.  Actually, I don’t remember God being mentioned at all…ironically and sadly, traditions can often lead us away from the heart of the matter.

I do not know in depth history about Lent, but according to my research, this event is observed in several types of church denominations and involves fasting and/or giving up certain luxuries leading up to Easter Sunday.  Lent (or Lenten) is not observed in the Bible.  Please let me be clear, I believe that setting aside time to pray, study, fast, and tune out the busyness and noise of life to focus on and draw near to God is good.  However, I have asked people who observe Lent to explain to me the purpose, and I have been given varying answers indicating many are unsure why they are doing it.  Just participating in a tradition and not knowing the reason and purpose is not beneficial to us.  Giving up an item (food or luxury) and carrying on with life as usual is spiritually pointless.  Yes, we may break some unhealthy habits in the process, but the purpose then becomes physical, not spiritual.

The most concerning aspect I have studied about Lent is it is labelled as a time of penance.  This can be so confusing and misleading.  The only penance required for this world’s cumulative sins has already been accomplished through the person and work of Jesus Christ.  This is good news!  Any further work on our part to pay for our sins is a disregard for Christ’s full payment that has already been made for us.  No amount of sacrifice or self-punishment will EVER make us righteous in God’s eyes. (Isaiah 1:11 NLT)

Some of these same principles apply to our use of The Daniel Fast as well.  The Daniel Fast derived from Daniel 10 was a time of mourning for three weeks where Daniel had no pleasant bread, meat, or wine (nor did he use fragrant lotions for anointing).  In several churches today, we have taken a one-time event in Bible history and made an annual practice of it.  Earlier in the book of Daniel, there is a time when we see the health of Daniel and others flourish due to eating according to the Godly customs of that time.  This type of eating was part of the law, which we are no longer under.  There is nothing wrong with employing this type of diet (it was not a fast) today for health purposes, but this is for physical benefits, not spiritual.  (Daniel 1:8 KJV)

I have participated in a 21 Day Daniel Fast.  I have also personally had times of spiritual growth and refreshing as I participated in purposed and increased prayer, study, and reflection.  However, I think we can lose the point if we focus a lot of time and energy on the food aspect.  With The Daniel Fast, I would try to still make my favorite meals using ingredients that were “permissible”…we probably shared recipes and meal plans more than we shared what God was doing in our hearts at times which was sadly missing the point.  We would allow corn chips to slide by on a technicality…thank goodness because I love tortilla chips!  Sometimes we would even mention how it takes 21 days to break a bad habit, so we would give up a habitual item for the fast…you know, the “kill two birds with one stone” analogy?  You may be laughing right now because you did the same thing and you know it’s true!

We do not see The Daniel Fast observed by Jesus, the apostles, or the disciples in the New Testament.  We have created a tradition in the church today that generates communal hype and involvement, but do we actually understand the true purpose and focus when participating?  I don’t think I did.  My hope through this blog is a better understanding of a few of the customs in The Church today (there are definitely more than just these two).  Talking to God; studying His Word; pulling away from the hectic pace and distractions of life; and, not eating for the purpose of focusing our beings on Him – these are all beneficial to us spiritually.  However, sometimes customs, practices, and traditions can shift or over-shadow the primary focus:  God.