When was the last time that you did something for God – and for him alone?  Not for yourself, not for others, not even witnessed by others – just for God?  To give an honest answer is perhaps more difficult than it seems at first glance.  For even when we do things that are obviously religious like praying or attending a Sunday worship – do we really do them for God?
For example – why do you attend a Sunday service?  Hand on heart – is it because of the fellowship?  Or the music?  Or the message that you can take home?  I remember in my last parish in Germany as we looked in a group at the reasons why we go to church that many different answers were given, but God was not even mentioned once.  All the answers revolved round what we benefit personally.  And is not that in the end selfish? Do we then not only utilise God for our own goals?  As if God were our servant?  And what could be more blasphemous?  We should not forget that Jesus was not so much opposed by pagans, but by people who regarded
themselves as religious.
Wednesday 5th March is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.  Lent is an invitation to undergo a spiritual health check.  That means to review everything we normally do based on the question whether it is according to God’s will.  And if we are honest, then we have to admit that most of the things we do are simply driven by our desires and our fears but not by God’s word.  Lent is an invitation to take Jesus at his word and to “repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15).
When Jesus called people then they left everything – everything that defined their old lives, everything that this world could offer – in order to follow him.  But as Jesus shows us in his parable of the sower, even if we are attracted by Jesus’ message, it is something different to obey his commands in our daily lives with all their earthly demands.  Our good intentions are easily choked by all the sensual distractions.
Therefore, again and again we need times to refocus and to start again with Jesus.  We need fasting seasons.  We need times where we reduce our dependence on material things and our interactions with this world in order to make space in our lives for the spiritual reality.  What is only “less” in the eyes of the world is “more” in spiritual terms.
On the painting “The Hermit”, we see an old, hunched hermit playing the fiddle before a statue of the virgin Mary with Jesus.  He seems to be lost in what he is doing: praising God.  His surrounding is not colourful, only the statue
mirrors the celestial blue.  He does not even dare to lift his eyes.  He offers humbly his musical sacrifice as if his soul were a fiddle on which God plays.  There is no audience, reminding us of Jesus’ words, “Whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret.”
(Matthew 6:6)
But he is nevertheless not alone.  Unnoticed by him, there are three putti. It is not really clear what brings them to this place – are they just curious?  Or do they even have some kind of mischief in their heads?  Nevertheless, the message is obvious: This makeshift shelter in the middle of nowhere becomes a gate to heaven through the praise
of the old man.  You are never too old or too frail to live according to your vocation and to utter what is music in God’s ears.
When you do something only for God then you risk making yourself vulnerable and a fool in the eyes of the world. If you spend things or time for God, then you will be asked why you have not spent it for people in need.  The world only sees what is worldly but is blind for the spiritual reality.  But in the end, only what is spiritual will remain and only what is done spiritually will make sense.  Lent offers us the invitation to become single minded, focussing on the One – at the start perhaps for one second, then for one minute, then for one hour, then for one day, and then in heaven for eternity.
Johannes Wildner