“Empty Religious Gestures”

I've seen 3 men who I respect greatly all share that they are saying goodbye (giving up) social media for the next 40 days of lent. I saw another man I greatly respect say that he is giving up empty religious gestures for lent. (Full disclosure: all of these things I've learned through Facebook and Twitter, and I'm not following suit with the first 3, but I am totally following the 4th's lead on the empty religious gestures!) Fortunately, the 3 giving social media up probably won't see this post, so I won't offend them.

I put these two concepts (giving up religious gestures and giving up social media) together not to judge (I'm also leaving names out to avoid gossip) I simply would like to question the “giving up" of something without follow-on statements about what you're “taking up." I'm sure these 3 (and I'll say it again later) have a plan to take up something to replace what they give up, I just think it would have been helpful if they included that little detail in their final Facebook or twitter post for the next month and a half…

The NCC challenge I mentioned yesterday is really good in that it focuses on doing something not just refraining from something. I recall a message I heard a year ago about not just being anti something, but also being for something – it was Doug Philips from the Vision Forum, and The 10 commandments were used as the example because most people see then as a list of “thou shalt not's!" Doug pointed out that they really aren't just prohibitions, after all, Jesus summarized them all with two “Thou Shall's" – 1) love God and 2) love people. The line I remember most was this: “It's not enough to be an “anti" you've also gotta be a pro!"

You have to be for some things, and if you're going to give up something, I simply want to know: what are you going to take up? What are you going to do in the place of what you once did? If you don't fill the space, you can be sure that there's someone who will gladly fill it for you – Jesus referred to him as the “evil one" and when you empty out without filling – you can expect to find worse things than before, which is a principle from Scripture.

I'm sure the 3 men I mention are going to devote more time to Bible reading, prayer, family time and fellowship in general, I just feel like their short bursts of declaration lack guidance for those who would follow in their footsteps… I think that without descriptive directions in disciplines of dedicated daily duties, someone might surmise that simple sacrifices of solitude are sufficient! I think not! You must not only stop doing evil, you also must pursue good.

So here's to taking the lent concept to the next level! I pray those of you who read this will follow up all your offerings with obedience, and not just give up things like social media, but take up a daily discipline of focused prayer & Bible study, meditation & memorization. Surely the minutes you once spent checking and updating Facebook and twitter will allow you to memorize a handful of verses – you might even want to start with 2 Chronicles 7:14…

Peace,
Adam

PS: Full disclosure, since I wasn't explicit in what I myself am taking up, it is the NCC “experilent" I mentioned yesterday and I am also going to give my best at posting blogs on 30 Mighty Men concepts at least once a week. So if I follow through – there should be about 5 new posts by Resurrection Sunday, and I hope to overshoot that by 2 to make it an “even" 7! 🙂