Daily devotional, February 15, 2024 Reduce

“Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.Do not be conformed to this world,but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2

I grew up during the time when the word “reduce” was widely used to say that a person is trying to lose weight. The term was so commonplace that even local movie stars used the phrase “nagrereduce” to emphasize that they are eating less to slim down.

As followers of Jesus, “reduce” can be a useful word in terms of trying our best to lessen the sins that we commit as a form of sacrifice during lent. While fasting from food is an important part of a prayerful existence, consciously exerting effort to not break the Lord’s commands could help us in our goal towards a Christ-like existence.

"Assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self,which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." 
Ephesians 4:21-24

As Rev. Fr. Dave Concepcion says, it is impossible for us people to be sinless, but we can “sin less.” This means, we can train ourselves to not be as sinful as we are now, by intentionally avoiding occasions where we commit our favorite sins.

So this Lent, apart from abstaining from meat and fasting, we should lessen the instances that lead us to sinning. We may not be successful in avoiding it altogether since only Jesus is sinless and perfect, but at least we can try, and we get to lessen our bad habits. We can hold on to what St. Paul the Apostle said as he encourages early Christians to refrain from giving in to their temptations:

"No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it." 
1 Corinthians 10:13

So what are the practical examples of these habits we can lessen? Well you can try “reducing” any of the following:1. Reduce hate in your life. Forgive those who may have hurt you before, and pray for them. Refrain from participating in hate fests — do not be a basher of anyone, and do not cancel another human being just because a lot of trendy people do. Just do not propagate and participate in any type of hate.

2. Reduce gossipping and rumor mongering. If retelling and commenting on confirmed or unconfirmed details of other people’s life or problems is part of the culture in your organization, family or circle of friends, then now is the time to quit participating in such a pastime. When it is time for everyone to talk about other people, leave the table and do something else. If you have the guts, call the head gossip out and tell her it is time to stop hurting others.

3. Reduce lying. If it is part of your habit to tell white lies, hard core lies, and all types of lies then work on gradually reducing occasions of lying until you feel very uncomfortable to not tell the truth. Keep away from instances that may lead you to lie, even if it is a seemingly harmless kind of lie.

4. Reduce covetousness. Start being happy for others, and quit or at least lessen your envy over material things, lifestyle, and even family circumstances. Each person is blessed in his own way so attempt at the very least to not look with envy in both real life situations and online. If hanging out in your social media feed makes you covet more, then now is the time to put down that phone, and be busy with something that is not going to lead you to sin.

5. Reduce greed. When we over book our schedules and spread ourselves too thin we may be getting greedy about power, possessions, and pleasure. Examine your reasons for being so busy that even your children can no longer spend time with you. If it is because you want to earn more money, or make a bigger name for yourself or for your business, then now may be a good time to start reducing your speed, and try being unbusy.

6. Reduce gluttony. When you do not treat your body as the temple of the Holy Spirit and you don’t share your resources with others, you tend to gulp down everything your money can buy. You get too heavy for your liking and you soon contract lifestyle diseases you are too young to have. You pass on this trait to your children too, so look, is the weighing scale trying to tell your family something? Maybe it is time to re-assess your food choices and wellness habits. Maybe it is time to divert some of those extra resources to the undernourished who badly need nutritious food?

7. Reduce tactlessness. Even the scriptures acknowledge that it is challenging to tame the tongue, and so why not take on the challenge this lent? Reduce cuss words from your vocabulary, try to be more gracious in your speech, especially to those you love most.

Perfection can never be attained but as sinners saved by the grace of God, our sanctification process will remain on going while we are still alive. Hence, our sacrifices to reduce sinning should not end on Easter Sunday, it should end when we hear our Lord and Savior tell us “well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Thank you for reading through our devotional today. I invite you to ponder on Ephesians 4:17-32, Romans 12:1-2, and Luke 9:23-25 to dig deeper on today’s topic.

Reflection Question:  What sins should you try your best to veer away from?

Conversation with the Lord: Heavenly Father, please help me as I try to avoid occasions of sinning. I love you with all my heart and would like to please you and live a life that is glorifying to you. Empower me and give me the fortitude to follow your example of righteousness and abide by all your commands. Amen.