Half-Way Evaluation

Today is the half-way point of Great Lent. You now realize the days go by quickly when you’re focusing on Christ. You also realize that Pascha will be here ‘before you know it,’ and you still have work to do. It’s time for evaluation.

Let’s review what the Church has asked us to focus on for the past twenty days. Our Daily Lenten Journey has focused on God’s promise to save us, and the power that comes from living with that promise constantly in our minds.

Fasting, repentance, protection, and truth have been constant themes in the readings assigned to the days of Great Lent. Now is our chance to ask ourselves what we have done with what we have read. Has anything changed in our hearts in the past twenty days?

Brethren, recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.  For you had compassion on the prisoners, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.  Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised.  “For yet a little while, and the coming one shall come and shall not tarry; but my righteous one shall live by faith.”

Hebrews 10.32-38

Today Saint Paul wants you to call upon your past struggles to help you focus on what is coming. If you engaged in Great Lent as I have encouraged you this year, then you have endured certain struggles that will prepare you for the next twenty days.

You’ve made it this long; you can make it another twenty days. If you feel you have failed in your Lenten struggle so far, now is the time to take notice of what worked and what didn’t work. There isn’t just more fasting coming. More life is coming for which we must be prepared.

This is the message of Saint Paul today. Be comforted by the endurance you have shown because you will need it for what is coming. But do not fear. God is coming soon enough to save us. As learned this week, He always comes before it is too late. That is a lesson worth remembering.

What is coming? The Cross is coming. The Church lifts up the Cross of Christ half-way through Great Lent to remind us not only of God’s sacrifice, but our struggle as well. It is time to evaluate whether you are ready to take up your cross for Christ yet.

Lately I have been thinking about the ‘fasting naysayers’ we all know. Some believe that if you are going to sin ‘anyway’ why bother fasting. Many believe that fasting while still sinning makes you a hypocrite. Some even say, “It is better to be a good person than to worry about fasting.”

If you focus on ‘just being a good person’ you will not be prepared for the cross that is coming your way. It is coming. We cannot avoid our cross. That is why Saint Paul wants us to focus on the endurance we have learned. We will need that endurance to survive our cross.

The closer we get to Pascha, the harder the fast will be. We will crave our favorite foods. We will want to skip the extra Church services. We will tell ourselves we ‘did pretty good so far,’ we can take a break. Keep the fast and be ‘good’ at the same time. We are learning endurance.

We can never let our guard down. Think ahead to Holy Week when we will hear the words, “Blessed is that servant whom He finds being vigilant.” So, what do you do if you haven’t gotten serious about Great Lent? That’s all part of the evaluation. We can always start today.

Noah just came out of the Ark and is starting life over again. If Noah can start fresh, so can we. Ready or not, tomorrow will come and the rest of Great Lent will follow. Ready or not, our cross is coming. This is our chance to evaluate just how ready we are for our cross.

We all have more work to do. We also learned this past twenty days that God gives us what WE need. He gives us the help that WE need. We learned that God is always with us. We learned that His way, even if difficult, is always the best way. We will need those lessons.

Bring on the next twenty days!