I’ve been having a bit of exercise dysfunction this year, especially after my latest birthday. Used to be, I would get up very early and do a complete workout, including a vigorous exercise bike ride and weight lifting. I don’t know what happened, but somehow that means the bike is harder to peddle lately and those weights are heavier than ever. One morning it took me an entire hour just to peddle for 20 minutes.

The difficulty in my workout serves as a metaphor for my spiritual life. If I want to stay physically fit, I must keep at it, even if I don’t feel like it. Even if it’s hard. If I am to stay spiritually fit, I must keep at it, even if I don’t feel
like it. Even if it’s hard. We need our spiritual workouts like we need our physical workouts… even more.

We’re in the midst of a 40-day spiritual workout called the Lenten Season. Season is a great word. We most commonly use the word season when we speak of the Christmas Season. Lent is to Easter as Advent is to
Christmas. Lent gets us in the Easter spirit, just as Advent gets us in the Christmas spirit.

The Lenten Season is meant to make us think of Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness.

Luke 4:1-13 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, He was hungry. The devil said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” And the devil took Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to Him, “To You, I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If You, then, will worship me, it will all be Yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve.’”

And he took Him to Jerusalem and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “‘He will command His angels concerning You, to guard You,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear You up, lest You strike Your foot against a stone.’”

And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. Throughout Scripture, the wilderness represents a place of testing. Many of us try to escape testing, but James 1:2-4 says we should, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete,
not lacking anything.” If you’ve got a pulse, you can count on trials, struggles, hard times. The fact is, the Bible tells us to expect to run into trials and tribulations. Not only that, but the Bible tells us that God allows problems and trials to come into our lives and uses them for our good and His glory. Lent helps us prepare for our trials.