Lent 2017: This is Not the End

Lent: Day 15 of 40

Name: Chris Cho
Lenten Commitment: Commit to spending at least 30 minutes a day with God.

I remember when Ben TE first told us about Lent. Whether it was giving something up, doing something differently, or trying something new, we each had to commit to doing something. From that meeting until the start of Lent, I was panicking and running around racking my brain for something to do.

I figured Lent is pretty much the time for us to really think about how Jesus was tempted by Satan for 40 days in the desert. So I thought about what do I put ahead of God? Turns out the answer is quite simple: games, school, friends, music, competitions, and studying.

So for Lent, I decided to try to put God in front of everything else and throw all my worries out the window. In other words, I reminded myself that God is my #1 priority. And to accomplish this I decided to do quiet time, praise, and pray every day at least 30 minutes each day.

Before Lent, I thought I was plain busy with school. In reality, I was actually behind my computer monitor spending countless hours watching Youtube videos and checking Facebook. So I started cutting the time I spent on those activities and instead, prayed intensely and tried to listen to what God was trying to reveal to me through quiet time.

Unfortunately, my determination for this grew weaker with time and in the two weeks of Lent, I have already missed 2 days in my commitment to spend time with God. And what did I do during that time instead? I was playing games. Turns out this is actually much harder than I anticipated. The difference from my expectations to reality is a pretty big gap. 

Even though Lent is only less than halfway over, I am determined to keep up my effort. I have been tempted a lot and sometimes I want to give up. I keep tricking myself that I have more important things to do than spending time with God, but when I think of the time Jesus spent in the desert being tempted by Satan, I grow stronger.

I pray that for the rest of the days of Lent, I will not stray from my priorities by putting other things before spending time with God. But I also hope that God will keep my humble in my commitment so that I will not be prideful.

For all of you who may lose vigor and think that you cannot take it anymore, you have to remember that this is similar to the temptations Jesus received from Satan. Satan is trying to make you give up, but this is not the end.