Forty Days to a New You?

From last year's "OSLC Herald"—

How long does it take to form a new habit? From the first page of Google search results you’ll find wildly different answers, ranging from 21 days to a month to 66 days to six months. You don’t have to go too far to find attempts to blend Christianity with pop psychology, yielding assertions that the 40 days of Lent offer God’s way of breaking old habits and forming new ones.

I won’t deny that some real changes can take place by making a focused effort over an extended (but still limited) period of time. But placing too much emphasis on one-and-a-half months of work misses two important concepts of change—one much shorter and the other much longer—namely, justification and sanctification.

For instantaneous change, look to God for justification. This is when He forgives our sins because Jesus died on the cross. It’s not a process—you don’t have to achieve it or wait for it. It’s a done deal. Christ declared from the cross: “It is finished.” Know that your sins are forgiven and you have a restored relationship with God right now.

On the other hand, sanctification is the process by which the Holy Spirt leads us to live out our calling as God’s holy children, following His commandments and living in love toward God and neighbor. It cannot be accomplished in forty days, nor even in forty years of Lenten fasts. It happens over our entire lifetime and is complete only when our Lord takes us home. There are no quick fixes.

The purpose of the forty days of Lent, then, is not to give up a bad habit to make us a better person, but to serve as a reminder that we need Christ’s forgiveness constantly. We stumble and fall on a daily basis, which is why Jesus had to suffer and die. But He was also victorious for us, so we look toward His resurrection on Easter as the promise and guarantee of our own resurrection and eternal life.

If you’re able to give up a bad habit in forty days, good for you! But no amount of willpower can rid your life of sin. Instead, look to the Lord and His power at work in your life to justify you (now!) and to sanctify you over the course of your life on earth.