First Baptist Church of Herndon

Give It Up

Linda Soller | Mar 07, 2022

It’s that time of year again. And you will likely hear more than one conversation about what some person is giving up for Lent.  I have to admit that it took me years to understand that the giving up part has little to do with what you are giving up and everything to do with why. Let me explain. 

It has not been my life experience to observe many people who truly understood the nature of giving something up. Often the focus was on what the person would receive. A child gives up candy and pleases their parents. A grown up gives up their morning specialty coffee, and finds they have money to go out to lunch. I give up my sweet treat before bedtime and maybe lose a pound or two, okay so not a successful example, but you see what I mean.  The reason to give “it” up, whatever it happened to be, was lost in the process. Children craved the candy they missed, the coffee drinker justified their double burger as a prize for their coffee sacrifice, and my sweet treat just got pushed earlier so I could supposedly burn off the calories.

And the amazing thing is if you truly do give “it” up, it being something significant to you, for the right reasons whether related to Lent or not, you may be rewarded in ways you never could have imagined.  The secret is giving something up without a thought as to what you will get out of the process. It’s not easy to do, and maybe that’s why so few of us really do give “it” up. 

If all of this, or some of it’s true, why do we even bother to try? I have a theory. Despite what we read in the papers, or see on the news, I think most humans want to do better. We try to grasp the enormity of what God did for us. Our token sacrifices pale in comparison but we want to say in some small way thank you, and here is something meaningful to me that I can give up.  It may only be a bit of chocolate to you, but to God it’s a statement of faith, love, and devotion. So go ahead, give it up!

Be the love in the world!  :o)