March 20, 2025: Devotion

Over the past year, I’ve lost 85 pounds and now weigh less than I have since my twenties. After years of dieting, I found fad diets to be ineffective for me. On some, I might initially lose weight only to permanently stall. Some of those diets may well work for others, but they didn’t for me. Furthermore, I rejected any medical treatment—either medication or surgical.

So, after Easter of last year, I began my current program. I track every calorie I consume and restrict my diet to less than I burn. I exercise to boost my metabolism and burn additional calories.  Sounds old school, but it has worked for me. My diet, however, is more than avoiding certain foods—in fact, there is no “do not eat” list. It requires that I vigilantly chart every calorie. I walk 3 miles a day, six days a week. I have now logged almost 750 miles at the Wellness Center.

The point is that my weight loss is simple but has required active commitment.

Lent is too often understood as a season of passivity. Christians observe Lent by refraining from eating certain things at certain times. They avoid certain activities during the forty days.  And we avoid participating in sins of commission. It is a time to stop and listen. But a passive Lent alone is slothful and unproductive.

The Christian life is a way of living, not merely the avoidance of bad actions. At the end of the first century, the Didache begins:

There are two ways: one is the Way of Life, the other is the Way of Death; and there is a mighty difference between these two ways. The way of life is this: first, you shall love God who created you; second, your neighbour as yourself…[1]

The Christian way is thus an active participation in God’s love. It is a devotion to a way of life that always calls us into action. We keep to the means of grace that draw us closer to God and therefore into holiness.

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles.” (Acts 2:42–43, CSB)

[1] O’Loughlin, T. (2010). The Didache: A Window on the Earliest Christians (p. 161). Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; Baker Academic.