Time for Resolutions?

Once again, we find ourselves starting the season of Lent. Perhaps for many of us, this beginning of Lent is a little like the beginning of a New Year. It's time for resolutions. It's always a good thing to want to change something about ourselves that we think needs changing. Making resolutions often helps us along this road. But Lent is not really about changing some small aspect of our behavior. This is not the time to only focus on our diet or to try to quit smoking.

We can do those anytime of the year. We don't have to wait for Lent to do that kind of thing. And the danger would be if we decided merely on changing some external behavior that we would think we were really getting into Lent. Lent is about much more than that. It's about a change of mind and heart, not just changing some habits we may have picked up along the way.

Temptations

Today we encounter the temptations of Jesus. What does temptation have to do with changing our hearts? When temptations lead to sin, then they twist our minds and hearts out of shape. They deform us. We become ugly in a spiritual kind of way. Fighting temptation has always been one way to keep our hearts turned towards the Lord.

Some temptations are easy to recognize. They are big and brash, and there's no way we can miss the fact that we are being asked to ignore what is the right thing to do. Temptations to infidelity, dishonesty, greediness usually fall into this category. We can easily see where they are leading, and where they are leading is always down the wrong road. But the most dangerous temptations are often those that are not so obvious. These kinds of temptations appeal to something that is missing in our lives.

Empty Spaces in our Lives

Temptations often come because we have allowed holes to develop in our lives. The man or woman who has stopped working at the marriage relationship may find themselves unprotected when someone new comes along. He or she has allowed a hole to develop in their marriage and now it appears as if this new person can fill that emptiness.

This can be an especially difficult temptation to resist. That other person seems to carry promises of happiness and pleasure which should have been found in the marriage relationship. The solution here is not to have to work doubly hard at resisting temptation to infidelity. The proper spiritual solution is to put more into the marriage relationship. This will help to stop the temptation before it even begins.

Two Kinds of Spaces

It's important to note that there are basically two kinds of holes or empty spaces in our lives. One kind of empty space is the kind we create ourselves. For example, the man or woman who doesn't work at their marriage is responsible for creating a very dangerous empty space as we noted above. The person who is afraid of friendship, and so basically lives a very isolated life, creates an empty space which is open to the temptations of pornography and sexual self-abuse. The person, who is never satisfied with what they have creates a space that is open to the temptation of greed and possessiveness.

These temptations offer false security, comfort or intimacy. They promise to fill that terrible loneliness, which has been created by a life lived in isolation from family and friends. Or they pretend they will fill up their empty spaces with things. And so there are many types of empty spaces, which we create for ourselves. These are dangerous places and open to temptation.

A God-Created Space

But there is an empty space, which we do not create. This is the space that God has placed within us. It is restlessness, a yearning for completeness which only God can satisfy. It's important that we try to recognize when this emptiness shows itself in our lives. When we experience this God-given empty space and are able to discern that this is exactly what it is, then we will know there is no use seeking the cause or the cure. It's really a sign that we were made for more, and will never really be satisfied until we come face to face with the God who loves us.

The danger lies in trying to fill this empty God-given space with things not of God. This is where we can easily get into trouble. If the emptiness is seen as too much to bear, we try to stuff it full of things and/or people. We can see examples of this all around us: materialism, consumerism, addictions, the search for ultimate security, denial, shallow relationships and so on.

The list of empty space stuffers is longer than most of us can imagine. It's here we have to be on our guard. This is a favorite place for all sorts of temptations. The more we are aware of what is happening to us when these temptations come, the better. Then we will at least have a fighting chance of recognizing them for what they are. That's half the battle.

Know Thyself

And so as we move into the Lenten season it seems that one of our primary tasks is to come to know ourselves better. Self-knowledge is a basic building block of our spiritual lives. When we are able to look deeply into ourselves and discover the empty spaces we find there, we will have taken the first necessary step towards avoiding temptation. And hopefully we will allow the Lord into those empty parts of our lives. I pray that when we come to Easter this year we will be able to welcome the risen Christ with hearts and minds renewed.