Spiritual Self-Improvement (First Sunday in Lent)

Sermons on YouTube…

Many people approach Lent as an opportunity for spiritual “self-improvement.” This “self-improvement” may involve trying to deepen our prayer life, so that we feel closer to God. It may involve giving to charity or vowing to help others in some way that we don’t usually make time for. And, particularly if Lent arrives soon after the Christmas holiday over-eating extravaganza, fasting might even seem like a good idea!

In any event, we often look at spiritual “self-improvement” as an opportunity to become more like the “good people” we think God wants us to be.  And this is not a bad thing, in and of itself.

The danger, however, is when “self-improvement” becomes “self-centered.”  There are indeed many aspects of our relationship with God that simply can’t grow or develop unless we invest ourselves in them. But it’s also important to not to let ourselves become focused on ourselves. That’s a temptation that’s easier to fall into than it might first appear.

And that’s because, in my desire to become a “better person”, it’s often really easy to:

• Compare how well I’m doing to others – especially people who have committed acts so outrageous that I look really good compared to them … this is easy even with the biblical stories – I like to think that, unlike Eve and Adam, I wouldn’t have taken that forbidden fruit and eaten it; the same is true of people I read about in the news every day; but the fact is that I frankly didn’t have the opportunities to commit some of those transgressions and I don’t know what that particular temptation felt like or what I’d be thinking or feeling at the time…; so maybe my Lenten “self-improvement” would be better spent working on some humility, instead of telling myself how much better I am than all those other people out there…

• Congratulate myself for how I had the spiritual strength to do what I was supposed to do, when in fact, I behaved myself because I figured I’d get caught! Perhaps Adam and Eve figured God wouldn’t notice, and that was why they were willing to try to get away with it. They were probably less worried than I am! Last week, when I was doing continuing ed, I was driving back to the condo after the evening class, and I came to a red light at a deserted intersection. It was late at night. I could see no cars were coming in any direction. But I sat at that red light until it turned green, because I thought, “somewhere off to the side there may be a cop with his lights off watching me!” Of course, the threat of punishment is one of the reasons laws work, but following rules because deep down you don’t want to get caught and punished isn’t exactly spiritual “self-improvement”…  

• Focus on feeling good about myself, or how well I look in the eyes of others – I mean, maybe this is a reason Adam and Eve didn’t follow the rules – there was no community of people to embarrass themselves in front of! And while most of us probably don’t do things to look good in front of other people, we live in a society in which “doing good things for others” is something which earns us praise. “Community service” is part of the public school curriculum, and when we help others we feel good about ourselves.  And again, there’s nothing wrong with that. But if I’m focused on how good I feel about myself, that’s really not what I think God has in mind with spiritual “self-improvement”…

Spiritual self-improvement, when it’s centered on ourselves, ends up becoming neither spiritual, nor much of an improvement. And the temptation is really not the “fruit”, but the desire to focus on ourselves and what’s in it for us. At its center, this was really the temptation of the devil to Adam and Eve.

Jesus, on the other hand, managed the devil differently. In fact, as Jesus entered the wilderness, he was on a journey to deepen his relationship with God and to gird himself spiritually for the work ahead. And this work would always involve temptations and distractions.

Yet even though Jesus appears to be alone in the wilderness, Jesus didn’t try to go it alone, and when the devil tempts him, he consistently refuses to make decisions which are self-centered.

Instead, Jesus sees through the temptations, and refuses to make spiritual “self-improvement” a self-centered exercise. And so when faced with the choices the devil presents to him, Jesus makes his decisions based on:

• “every word that comes from the mouth of God” – that is, Jesus looks outside of himself for God’s help, rather than trying to figure it out for himself; Jesus, even though he’s God’s Son, demonstrates humility. And humility is deeply related to compassion. Jesus’ mission is to go into the world to share God’s love and life with people who need compassion, and you can’t do that if you’re focused on how much better you are than everybody else (and Jesus actually was!); and so for us, too, a key part of spiritual “self-improvement” is to work on a deeper sense of humility, so that we also can be agents of God’s compassion and love in the lives of people around us…

• the opportunities that God gives him for good – “do not put the Lord your God to the test” implies that God has other things in mind for you, which you’ll see if you look for those opportunities instead of focusing on the opportunity to make yourself look good; in fact, Jesus received a lot of attention and praise, but it came from doing the things God sent him to do, even when those things also brought about criticism and eventually led him to the Cross. But even in the wilderness, Jesus was looking for God’s opportunities and not the “shortcuts to success” that the devil was trying to sell. And for us, too, a key part of spiritual “self-improvement” is growing in our willingness and ability to look for the ways God is calling us to be of service to others, instead of perhaps the ways that make us most feel good about ourselves or which get us the most praise from others around us…

• his relationship with God – “worship the Lord your God and serve only him” means that your strength to choose good will not be found in yourself, but through God’s help, love and mercy. In the end, spiritual “self-improvement” can’t be centered on “self.” And when Jesus talks about “worship”, he doesn’t just mean going through liturgical motions. He means centering yourself on God’s constant presence in your life and not trying to go it alone. That’s what ultimately gives Jesus the strength to endure the wilderness and the temptations. It seems to us (and perhaps to the devil) that Jesus is all alone. But Jesus knows that isn’t true. God is present with him even in the midst of his loneliness, and that’s what gives him courage and strength to endure. And so for us, perhaps the most important part of spiritual “self-improvement” would be to finish Lent with a deeper sense and appreciation of God’s constant presence in our lives, so that we have the courage and strength not to rely so much on “self”…

Lent is indeed a great time for spiritual “self-improvement”. And there are lots of great opportunities for us to grow in faith, hope and love. But it’s really important not to let “self-improvement” become focused on self, as so many “self-improvement” programs encourage us to do.

And so as you consider whatever it is you might do to grow spiritually, look to Jesus in the wilderness. And like Jesus, seek to grow in humility and compassion, so that you can be an agent of God’s love and presence in the world.  Like Jesus, open your heart and mind and eyes to the opportunities God is placing before you to make a difference in the life of others in the world, even if they don’t look like the opportunities of the past, or even the opportunities that are popular.  And like Jesus, seek to grow in your appreciation of God’s constant presence and help in your life, because that’s the one thing that will give you the strength to keep on growing and improving.

Amen.