Week 3

Fasting

John Wesley said about fasting, "Some have exalted religious fasting beyond all Scripture and reason; and others have utterly disregarded it."  In my experience as a United Methodist, it has been disregarded.  

When I hear the word "fasting," I am immediately taken back to my days as a Roman Catholic and Lent.  Each year we would "give up something" whether it be chocolate, sweets, coffee, etc.  Then on Fridays, it was time to give up meat.  It was intended to be a spiritual discipline to prepare us for Easter.  But in actuality, it lacked spiritual power.  In my experience as a Roman Catholic, it has has been misunderstood.

I think that it has been misunderstood in the sense that the focus was about me.  It was about what I was giving up and when I could get whatever I had given up back.  Really though, the purpose of fasting is to grow closer to God.  It is less about self-denial and more about building a closer relationship with God.  So, fasting is a God thing, not a me thing.  First and foremost, fasting is God-centered.

We live in a world of plenty.  When we pull into McDonald's we are asked if we would like to super-size our order.  Food is at our disposal 24/7.  We don't know what it is like to go without.  The idea of denying ourselves seem to be foreign many of us living in the US.  Why would we ever need to fast?

In Luke 4:1-13, we hear the story of Jesus being tempted in the desert.  In verse 2 it says, "where for forty days he was tempted by the devil.  He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry." So Jesus fasted forty days and at the end of his time in the desert, he was hungry.  According to Richard Foster, those who fast for long periods of time experience hunger in the first week, but after that time, the hunger pangs go away.  If that is true, what kind of hunger was Jesus experiencing?  Could it possibly be that after fasting Jesus had an intense spiritual hunger?

Many times, without us realizing it, food and other things (texting, Facebook, Twitter) control us.  We use them almost as medicines so that we don't have to feel.  Think about it.  We eat when we are anxious.  We eat when we are bored.  We eat when we are sad.  We eat so that we don't have to come to grips with our emotions.  When that which controls us is stripped away, we are left with our true selves.  That is when we realize we are hungry for God, just like Jesus was.

So how do we fast?  It is fairly simple.  Find a time that is going to work with your schedule.  It is not a good idea to pick a day of the week if your job requires business lunches and dinners.  After you have found a good time, start to abstain for short periods of time and slowly build to longer periods of time.  For example, you might want to start with fasting one or two meals.  Fill those times when you would eat a meal with prayer.  Also every time your stomach growls, stop and offer a brief prayer.  Allow God to break into your day.  Be mindful of your health.  For some, fasting from food is not a good idea.  For others, food may not control you, so find something else to fast like your smartphone.  However you decide to fast, seek to feast on God.