I didn’t grow up practicing Lent. It was something my Catholic friends talked about, while my church mostly moved straight from winter into Easter.
That means I learned about Lent the same way a lot of people do: by hearing about it often enough to know it mattered to others but not being sure what it really meant.
If that sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Lent is one of the most recognizable global Christian traditions practiced today. But it still ends up causing confusion, especially if your church doesn’t observe Lent.
Lent isn’t about doing more for God but about slowing down enough to be reoriented toward Jesus before Easter arrives.
Table of Contents
- What Is Lent?
- Where Did Lent Come From?
- Why Is Lent 40 Days Long?
- The Core Themes of Lent
- Common Questions and Misconceptions About Lent
- Why Lent Still Matters in the Church Today
This article isn’t here to turn you into a Lent expert or convince you to observe it a certain way. It’s meant to explain where Lent came from and why Christians of every background have continued to practice it for generations. Along the way, I hope you’ll notice that Lent isn’t about doing more for God but about slowing down enough to be reoriented toward Jesus before Easter arrives.
So what is Lent actually about?
What Is Lent?
The first thing you might think of when Lent comes up is fasting. While fasting is an important part of Lent, it’s not the main focus.
Lent is a season in the Christian calendar designed as a purposeful interruption that helps us slow down, tell the truth about our lives, and recenter on Jesus so that Easter actually means something to us.
Lent is observed during the 40-day stretch leading up to Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending just before Easter Sunday. In some ways, Lent is to Easter what Advent is for Christmas; a time to prepare yourself for the big holiday.
Historically, Lent has been marked by habit-shifting and relationship-repairing practices like fasting, prayer, and repentance.
Lent is about making space so we can pay attention to what we depend on and listen to those around us.
So when we talk about Lent, we’re not talking about punishing ourselves or earning spiritual points through spiritual practices. Instead, Lent is about making space so we can pay attention to what we depend on and listen to those around us.
Where Did Lent Come From?
The practice of Lent didn’t appear all at once, fully formed, with a rulebook from God. Instead, it’s a Christian tradition that developed through generations of faithful Jesus followers from diverse backgrounds.
A Season of Preparation for Easter
In the early church, Lent emerged as a season of preparation for Easter, especially for people who were getting baptized.
Baptisms often took place on Easter Sunday, so the weeks leading up to that day became a time for new believers to learn the basics of faith, repent, ask for forgiveness, and reflect on what it actually means to follow Jesus.
Inclusion of the Whole Church
Over time, Lent preparation widened to include the whole church. Why? Because early Christians recognized something that’s still true today: It’s easy to get so busy preparing for a celebration like Easter that we forget to reflect on its true meaning.
So Lent became a shared slowing before Easter, a way of recentering on Jesus’ death and resurrection instead of rushing straight to celebration.
Different Traditions, Same Purpose
As Christianity spread, Lent took different forms in different places. But across Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant expressions, the purpose stayed fairly consistent.
Lent came from the church’s desire to prepare people, together, to fully experience the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Why Is Lent 40 Days Long?
Lent lasts for 40 days because that number shows up in the Bible in many stories tied to preparation, testing, and transformation.
Here are some examples of the number 40 appearing in Scripture:
- The great flood lasted for 40 days.
- Moses spent 40 days on Mount Sinai talking with God.
- The people of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.
Jesus Spent 40 Days in the Wilderness
Before Jesus taught publicly, healed anyone, or gathered followers, He intentionally put Himself into a situation where He needed to depend on God by fasting for 40 days in isolation.
Other than the temptation of Jesus, we don’t get any insight into what He actually did for those 40 days. But we do know it was a personal time of preparation.
Forty isn’t a magical number. It just shows up often in the Bible in relation to periods of discomfort leading to growth or change. These biblical themes and the story of Jesus in the wilderness inspired the duration of Lent.
The Core Themes of Lent
As a reminder, Lent is a season designed to interrupt our habits long enough to recenter our lives on Jesus before Easter.
So how do we do that? It starts with changing a habit in our lives, usually through one or more spiritual practices. Just remember, Lent isn’t about mastering a spiritual practice. It also isn’t a competition to see who can be the most “miserable” for Jesus; the point is to give you a 40-day window to reflect on God’s work in your life.
Here are a few ways people practice Lent today:
Fasting
This is what most people think of when they think of Lent. As we’ve already seen, Lent draws a lot of its inspiration from Jesus’ 40-day fast in the wilderness, so it makes sense that modern Christians would follow His lead.
How exactly do people practice fasting?
There isn’t one right approach, and no single method is more “spiritual” than another. I’ve seen people fast in at least three different ways:
1. Food
This is the most familiar form of fasting. Some people choose to skip a meal, simplify what they eat, or give up certain foods for a time.
Note: If you’re thinking of fasting from food, make sure you do so safely. Be wise about potential impacts on your health, and check with a medical professional if you have specific concerns or considerations. Let at least one trusted friend know about your fast, and have set check-in points with them along the way. This practice is common but optional, so definitely don’t put yourself at risk by fasting.
2. Media
These days, people have expanded the idea of fasting to include abstaining from things that take a lot of their time and attention, like social media, digital streaming, or constantly checking the news.
3. Attitudes
Some people prefer to focus on internal habits rather than external ones. This might mean becoming more aware of, and stepping back from, complaining, impatience, comparison, reactive anger, or the need to always be right.
Prayer
Historically, prayers during the season of Lent focused on repentance, humility, and preparation for Easter.
People prayed to confess sin, seek renewal, and recenter their lives on God, using prayer as a way to slow down and prepare for the joy of resurrection.
Repentance
Easter celebrates forgiveness, restoration, and new life through Jesus.
Repentance makes it possible for Christians to take those ideas seriously before celebrating them at Easter.
Repentance begins with naming sin, broken patterns, or harmful habits instead of ignoring or excusing them. But repentance doesn’t stop at awareness. It also involves turning away from what causes harm and, when possible, taking steps toward repair.
Repair might mean apologizing for something we’ve done, making things right, changing our patterns of behavior, or seeking help to stop repeating the same damage to others.
Generosity
Practicing generosity before Easter helps us line our lives up with the Easter story.
Easter celebrates God’s generous gift to us through Jesus, and we’re called to respond with generosity toward others.
Easter celebrates God’s generous gift to us through Jesus, and we’re called to respond with generosity toward others. It trains us to loosen our grip on money, time, attention, or comfort, and to practice giving before we celebrate what God has already given.
Common Questions and Misconceptions About Lent
Is Lent Only for Certain Christians?
No, Lent is for any Christian, regardless of faith tradition. Lent often gets labeled as “Catholic” or “Orthodox,” which might make it feel off limits to others, but it’s accessible to anyone.
Lent predates modern denominations, and different traditions have practiced it differently through the ages. So Lent isn’t owned by one faith tradition.
Is Lent Required for Faithful Christians?
No, Scripture doesn’t command practicing Lent, fasting for 40 days, or following a church calendar. Those practices are simply helpful tools that various Christian traditions use to prepare for Easter.
Spiritual practices don’t create faith, but they certainly can provide a framework or structure to help our faith grow.
Why Don’t Sundays Count in the 40 Days?
If you’ve ever tried counting from Ash Wednesday to Easter and felt confused, that’s to be expected.
Historically, Sundays weren’t counted as fasting days.
From early on, the church treated Sundays as weekly reminders of resurrection, even during Lent. So the 40 days refer to 40 fasting days, not 40 uninterrupted calendar days.
How Does Holy Week Connect to Lent?
Holy Week is the final and most focused part of Lent.
The whole Lent season helps us slow down, reflect, and recenter our lives on Jesus—and Holy Week brings that journey to its climax by walking through the final days of His life.
Check out our Holy Week guide.
Why Is It Called Lent?
Lent gets its name from an Old English word that means “springtime.”
Christians used that word to describe the period leading up to Easter, because Lent, like spring, is a time of growth and new life.
Why Lent Still Matters in the Church Today
Two of the most well-known moments in Jesus’ story are His birth and His death, and for good reason. But Lent reminds us that Jesus didn’t just arrive to save the world and then disappear. He lived a particular kind of life, one we’re invited to pay attention to and learn from.
And honestly, living like Jesus doesn’t come naturally to me. It takes intentionality, and it means choosing discomfort over convenience sometimes. That’s why I’ve grown to appreciate Lent. Not because Jesus needs me to prove anything, but because I need regular reminders to slow down, notice my habits, and do the work of becoming more like Jesus.
Why Lent Can Matter to You
I think Lent can be valuable for you, too. All of us need opportunities to slow down, notice what’s shaping us, and consider where we’re headed.
Whether or not you choose to practice Lent, take some time to reflect on your life. Ask yourself,
- Are there habits I need to break?
- Are there priorities that I need to rearrange?
- Is there a person I need to ask for forgiveness?
Bring your answers to God through prayer and to Christian friends for accountability. Then, make the hard, holy, and vulnerable choice to live and love more like Jesus.
What should I give up for Lent? Check out this simple guide.