By: Kyle Shisbey What is Lent? For those who don’t know, Lent is the solemn religious time in the Christian liturgical year focusing on the 40 days Jesus Christ spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan. Lent is a time we set aside each year to remember the love of God that is poured out through Jesus Christ on the cross at his death. The defeat of death, sin and Satan in Christ's death and resurrection brings a chance for Eternal Life to humanity. During Lent, believers are challenged to make a Lenten promise. This is personal for them and is to benefit themselves during and after Lent. Customarily, people choose to give up temptations of goods or belongings, and others choose to focus on a true inner conversion of heart as they seek to follow Christ's will more faithfully. Lent is a 40 day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. This is a period of preparation to celebrate the Lord's Resurrection at Easter. This starts a time when we are called to practice self-discipline and fast in other ways throughout the season. One religious way is that we must abstain from meat on Fridays. Another example is through praying. The majority of people are almost always caught up in their busy lives, so they tend to forget about taking time out of their day to pray. This is something very easy, yet put aside; so, during Lent, we are called to pray more. Finally, the example of almsgiving asks us to share God's gifts, not only through the distribution of money, but through the sharing of our time and talents. Giving alms can be as easy as giving material goods and as to being there for others or helping them out when they need it.
Spending time during Lent praying, fasting and giving can make Jesus’ sacrifice on Good Friday and His resurrection on Easter even more meaningful.
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