Wednesday 13 February 2013

on giving things up for Lent

Lent offers a precious opportunity to reflect on our attitude to ‘things’ – both those we have, and those we lack. In 1 Timothy 6.6-19, Paul is warning Timothy to beware of greed in all its forms: the greed that manifests itself as a ‘morbid craving’ for controversy (v.4), or as a love of money which is ‘a root of all kinds of evil’ (v.10). Even the pursuit of godliness can become a twisted form of greed (v.5). The way forward, says Paul, is to pursue godliness with contentment (v.6), a quality conspicuously missing from our grasping human behaviour.

How content are we with what we have? Whether or not we choose to give something up, this season offers us an opportunity – with the guidance of the Holy Spirit – to examine our own tendency to greed and acquisitiveness, and to seek God’s healing and transformation.

Barbara Mosse, in Reflections for Daily Prayer 2013 (Church House Publishing)

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