Fasting

What is the purpose of fasting? Most everyone knows what fasting is (purposefully depriving oneself of something, most commonly food), but what is its purpose? The principle of fasting comes from the Old Testament, when the Jews would fast to humble themselves before God in order that they might approach God in the case of the Levites (the tribe of the Jewish priests), or in order that God would hear their prayers. In both of these cases, the root reason for fasting is to clear the things away from one’s life that might distract one from God and possibly draw one’s praise away from God, in order that the relationship, the avenue of communication between that person and God will become clearer, and their focus can be wholly on God, instead of God and whatever else it is you might be distracted by.

If you’ve ever fasted, you know that it is not the easiest thing to do, and it probably isn’t the most pleasant thing to do either. I don’t think anybody ever said, “I can’t wait to fast again; that was fun!” The reason it’s not very easy or fun is that we are depriving ourselves of something that we are used to, something that makes us comfortable in this world. Being hungry is not a pleasant experience, in fact sometimes it hurts. But when we fast, we stick it out because we know in the end it will benefit us, it will hopefully result in a better relationship with God, or a better idea of what God wants us to do. We also stick it out because we can see the end. We go through our fast, not concentrating on the hunger pangs and the decrease of energy and the discomfort, we look to the end, when we will break the fast, and once again enjoy the comforts that we have temporarily forsaken. Whenever I fast, I think that’s the biggest thing that allows me to keep from giving in to temptation, from giving up and breaking the fast before I intended to. If there wasn’t an end in sight, I wouldn’t have the anchor I need to look to in order to maintain my self control and self discipline.

Bigger than just fasting, the Christian walk is much the same way. We are told to abstain from those things which God abhors and to steer clear from things that will hinder our walk with Christ. We are asked to deny ourselves those thing, often times things considered to be comforts, or ‘life enhancing’, such as drunkenness, or promiscuous sex, or pornography, or any number of things that lead to breaking God’s commands or going directly against the teachings of Jesus. We are told to abstain, but I think that many of us, including me, fail at this in some area fairly consistently. The temptation is always around us, and sometimes it even comes from within us. We are bombarded with temptation after temptation. Much like you notice the smells of food, and notice people eating when you are fasting, when you are abstaining from the other things in the world, you tend to notice the temptation all around you. Like I said earlier, in fasting we can look to the end of the fast to gather strength and maintain self control, but with the Christian walk, the end isn’t as visible to us. In fact, to many, the end is nowhere in sight. The Christian walk is unlike a fast in that it lasts an entire lifetime. In the life that Christ calls us to live on this world, we are required to give up things for our entire life. No end on this world. This is one reason that Jesus says in Matthew 8:20 “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” This means that we have no home on this earth since our home is in heaven, but it also means that foxes and birds, they have comforts in this world, but the Christian has nothing in this world to comfort him. That sounds depressing, but the better part of this little comparison is that when we reach the end of this great fast known as the Christian walk, we will have every comfort we need being in direct communion with Christ. That is the end of the fast that the Christian looks to for strength. Just like in a temporary fast here in this world where we look toward the end, the breaking of the fast for our resolve and self restraint, as Christians, we should look toward the end or our walk when we will have all we ever needed and wanted in God in Heaven for our resolve and self-restraint. When viewing this life as all there is, the Christian walk looks very impractical and extremely miserable because we abstain from things even to death, never experiencing some things. But when viewed as a fast with a great feast at the end, it is a wonderful thing because, though we might not experience some of the comforts in this world, we will have all that we need and want in the next for eternity. So next time you are wavering in the presence of temptation, think about the end, when you will break your fast and be given all that you’re heart and soul will ever need and want in Christ. Though you might deny yourself a comfort now, in the end, the reward will be that much sweeter, just like fasting in this world; when you deny yourself of some comfort, at the end when you break the fast, the comforts that you do experience are much sweeter than they would be if you had given in at the first sign of temptation.

A Personal Note

December 3, 2006

Tonight, the Navigators Student Leadership Team had their last meeting for the semester, and I feel absolutely fantastic. It wasn’t the meeting itself that gave me this feeling of peace about…everything about where I am right, but it was a conversation I had with a good friend afterwards, coupled with the recent completion of a fast in which I learned a lot about self-control and dependence on God.

I’ll start with the time of fasting that I had a week ago. The week before Thanksgiving break a couple of friends and I decided that we would fast the week after the break. So, when I got back, I began, and it was hard. It was hard just to live with my roommate who wasn’t fasting. The temptation to give in was all around me, during meal times and anytime someone even cooked popcorn for a snack. But the biggest temptation came on the second day of the fast when I worked the dinner shift at the Derby Dining Center (the dorm cafeteria). As the week went on, I began to lean on God when temptation grew around me. Every morning I would pray to God for the energy to go through the day, and for the strength to maintain my self-control and not give in to temptation, and he answered everyday. Through the course of the week, I faced temptation so much that it became almost natural to deny my urge to give in. At the end, when it came time to break the fast, I wasn’t as eager as I thought I would be to taste food again. My self-control was immensely bolstered through that experience, and afterward I took that lesson of self denial and applied to an area that I had struggled with and it hasn’t been an issue since. Plus, I feel that God really has shown me what it is to truly walk and live in the Holy Spirit. I felt closer to God in the last week after the fast than I have all semester, possibly closer than I’ve ever felt.

Then, a week later, I had a talk with one of my close friends about a family issue that I was facing and she gave me some excellent council and insight into the situation and how I needed to approach it. Then after talking about some other things that I had on my mind, her answers to some of my questions allowed me to let go of some things that I think were holding me back from following God with all that I am. With those things now put to rest, I really feel that I am closer to God than I have ever been. I can’t explain how absolutely wonderful it feels to know that God is working in my life, that the creator of the Universe, the almighty God of everything is coming close to me and calling me even closer. It’s absolutely exhilarating. I’m now two weeks away from winter (Christmas) break, and I can’t wait to spend some time totally dedicated to thinking about Christ and what he did for me, about the miracle of his coming into the world and the cost of his call.

It is now my prayer that you, whoever you are, whoever is reading this right now, could feel what I feel right now. Whoever is reading this right now, I want you to know that no matter what you’ve done, no matter how good or bad your life is, no matter if you think you are worthy or not, God wants to know you, and He wants you to know Him. Jesus Christ, the son of God, came into this world and died for our sins, not because he had to, not because that was his purpose, but because He loves YOU and wants to bring YOU into a relationship with God. He did it because he loves you. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, what you’ve done, where you live, or how old you are; He wants to know YOU. He loves you more than anything you can imagine, and he wants to know you. Just stop reading for minute and think about this for a moment: Christ Jesus, God, the almighty creator and master of the entire universe wants to know YOU.

If you truly want this, all you need to do is pray (say out loud or in your head) “Jesus, God, I want to know you, show me who you are.” He wants to know you, and he wants you to come to him. The ball is in your court now…

The Parable of the Talents Expanded

I came to Panera Bread here in Manhattan to sit and have a quiet time to read a little in the Word of God (Bible) and relax before my day begins. So I get my orange juice and asiago cheese bagel and go into the back room to get away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the place. When I sit down, I realize that in the opposite corner of this small back room is a mother nursing here infant while keeping an eye on her boy, I’m guessing the boy was about 5 or 6 years old. So I think to myself, great, I’ve come for some quiet time and I choose to sit in the same room as the obnoxious kid. But as I try to ignore the scene and fail, I hear the situation that is playing out across the room. The little boy is crawling all over the mother, the mother tells him repeatedly to stop, and after ignoring her instruction, she tells him, “You know what, I think we’re not going to go to Target.” You might think this is a rather random response, but something important just happened there. I’m going to infer from that comment and the boy’s response that she had told the little boy that they were going to go to Target where he was going to receive something that he wanted. Only first they were going to go to Panera for some breakfast. I don’t know if this is exactly what happened, I’m just guessing based on what I heard. Anyway, the point is he was given an opportunity to have something good, but because of his misbehavior, he lost that opportunity. I can relate to this situation because as a child, my mother doubtless went through many of these episodes.

What all this is reminding me of is a passage in Matthew that says “For to everyone who has will more be given and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” This passage comes from Jesus’ parable of the talents which deals plainly with possessions, namely money. But we can apply the lesson learned to many areas of life. This little boy at Panera could have had a nice trip to Target for something desirable, but because he had no self-control (good behavior) his trip to Target was taken away. He was given an opportunity, but not respecting it or being mindful of it, his opportunity was taken away. I think this scenario exists between us as Christians and God as well. God, no doubt has all manner of good things prepared to throw our way, but because of our lack of self control to follow his instructions that he repeatedly gives us, we lose some of those things he has prepare for us, or at least postpones their coming. As children of God, Christians have the promise of every good thing, but because of our lack of self-control (good behavior) we are denied these things because we are not ready for the responsibility that these things carry.