God does not need our external acts of piety. Rather, he asks us to sacrifice our arrogance, our insistence on autonomy, our selfishness, our fickleness, all of our shortcomings, upon his altar.
As we draw near the halfway mark of Lent, it would behoove us to reflect upon which gods we are honoring, admiring and loving more than God who gave us life. And then to show them the door.