Lent is not about proving spiritual discipline or earning God’s favor. It is about honest self-examination, repentance that leads to repair, and practices that restore right relationship, with God, with others, and with ourselves. What we give up should serve love, not ego.
1. Give Up Certainty
Release the need to have every theological, moral, or political question resolved. Lent invites humility, the recognition that God is always larger than our conclusions.
“Now we see in a mirror, dimly.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)
2. Give Up Moral Superiority
Let go of the comfort that comes from being “right.” Righteousness in the Gospel is not about winning arguments but about practicing mercy.
3. Give Up Indifference
Especially toward the suffering of the poor, the marginalized, the imprisoned, the sick, and the forgotten. Lent asks us not merely to feel compassion, but to act.
“Let justice roll down like waters.” (Amos 5:24)
4. Give Up Performative Faith
Step away from public displays of piety meant to reassure others, or ourselves, of our holiness. God is encountered in the quiet work of love and integrity.
5. Give Up Despair Disguised as Realism
Cynicism often masquerades as wisdom. Lent calls us to stubborn hope, even when the world gives us every reason to give up.
6. Give Up the Rush
Resist the culture of constant productivity and urgency. Make space for prayer, silence, rest, and unstructured time—trusting that God works beyond our schedules.
7. Give Up Easy Enemies
Stop reducing complex people and systems to villains. Lent asks us to see even those we oppose as human beings, without surrendering our moral convictions.
8. Give Up Silence in the Face of Injustice
While Lent calls us to silence before God, it also calls us to speech when others are harmed. Discern when quiet becomes complicity.
9. Give Up Cheap Forgiveness
Forgiveness without truth is not healing. Lent invites us to practice reconciliation that includes accountability, repair, and changed behavior.
10. Give Up the Illusion of Self-Sufficiency
We are not meant to save ourselves. Lent reminds us that grace is received, not achieved.
“My grace is sufficient for you.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
11. Give Up Dehumanizing Language
Refuse speech that reduces people to labels, ideologies, or stereotypes. Lent is a season for restoring dignity through words.
12. Give Up Fear-Based Faith
Let go of theology rooted primarily in punishment, exclusion, or anxiety. The Gospel begins and ends in love.
“Perfect love casts out fear.” (1 John 4:18)
To give something up for Lent is not to become smaller, harsher, or more austere. It is to become more human, more honest, and more available to the Spirit of God who is always making all things new.
