the heart, I test the

Isa29:13 gives us a warning against empty rites, rituals that lack heart. Lord wants your worship to be with the entirety of your heart. But where is the line between a full heart and a heart that is struggling?

Every year I do the Easter run-up by honoring Lenten sentiments. If the Lord can sacrifice, I can surely sacrifice. And while always a struggle to maintain that discipline and commitment, my heart is at least in it. These past few weeks, however, I feel like I'm just going through the motions. No soda and no dessert and no sweets? Tortuous but doable. But also fairly empty-feeling.

On the other hand, isn't that what discipline is always about? Powering through it despite the lack of will? Perhaps the emptiness is not a lack of intention, but rather a struggle against liar's whispering. Certainly the original desire to remember the Lord's sacrifices and commitment has not waned. Perhaps this is liar's way of inducing surrender: apathy.