To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Proverbs 21:3

This year, I really didn’t give up anything for Lent. There have been years where that was a very important part of how I prepared myself for the celebration of Easter. This year, however, I just wasn’t inspired to seek out an area of sacrifice in self-denial. (It may be a justification – see yesterday’s devotion on Proverbs 21:2 – but I feel that the lifelong journey of discipleship allows different challenges for different phases in life.)

But even when I am not sensing the call to sacrifice, I am not given permission to ignore God with my actions.

To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

The writer of Proverbs is speaking to me this Lent. Every day is a day in which I can please God with deeds that seek to embody righteousness and justice. The prophet Micah was on the same page with Proverbs 21:3 when he wondered about daily actions:

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:6-8

Even without giving up something, I can finish Lent obediently.

Prayer

Dear God, lead me in the ways of doing justice and loving kindness, as I walk humbly with you on the path to the cross and the empty tomb with my Lord and Savior Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.