If it weren’t for the assassination of Julius Caesar the word “ides” would probably be gone from any modern use. Ides, in the Roman calendar, simply refers to the middle part of the month. Interestingly, this year the middle of March also coincides with the (rough) middle of Lent. And whether you’ve chosen to fast or not it is an important time we can use in the lead up to Easter.
There’s such a temptation to treat holidays, like Christmas and Easter, as a list of tasks to rush through—as though we can win at Easter. When in truth these days have been set apart as a time of remembrance. We should spend intentional time pausing and meditating during Lent on the promises that were fulfilled through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. This is why people fast during Lent.
We don’t do it to impress other people. It is not done to impress God. We do it as a reminder of our reliance on a savior. We do it so that anytime you have that pang of “I could really go for that thing I’m fasting from,” we can ask the question, “Do I want God as much as I want that?”
Isaiah 58:5-6 says,
5 Is such the fast that I choose,
a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
and a day acceptable to the Lord?
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
It is so rare for us to take time examining our lives. What do I truly need? What can I live without? What is getting in the way of my reliance on God? Even though we are halfway through Lent, it is never too late to ask these questions and try fasting.