I’ve had a few comments in conversations over the past 24 hours since posting yesterday’s blog (or vlog
as the cool people call it). If you haven’t watched it the essence of what I was saying was that throughout Lent it might be helpful to give something up as you seek to reflect a little more on all that Jesus gave up for us. But following these conversations there are some clarifications and suggestions that I hope will be helpful as we each consider if or how we will approach this time.
The first thing I want to think about is what we might consider giving up during this time. Whilst there would certainly be some who would be of the opinion that a fast must always be from food, for a number of reasons I would be open to a broader range of possibilities. This might mean that rather than fasting from all food you choose to go without a certain thing/s, or it might mean that what you fast from is not food at all: for example, you might choose to give up Facebook, Twitter or TV. However the key thing when deciding what to give up is this: you need miss it. In other words, because part of the idea behind fasting is to go without something, there is no point in narrowing down your options until you’ve found the one thing that you reckon you can manage without before deciding that it is the one thing you are prepared to give up!
Second: “Fasting without praying isn’t fasting at all, it’s starving”. I remember hearing that phrase a while back and it’s stuck with me ever since. In the bible and throughout the history of the church we read of people fasting – but the fast was always accompanied by something: prayer and worship. So we
read in Luke 2 (and similarly of the disciples in Antioch in Acts 13) about the prophetess, Anna, who we are told never left the temple, but was there constantly “[worshipping], fasting and praying.” In other words, prayer and fasting go together; as Richard Foster says in his book Celebration of Discipline: “Fasting must forever centre on God. It must be God-initiated and God-ordained… ‘Fasting’ and ‘worshipping the Lord’ must be said in the same breath.” So whilst an added benefit of giving up chocolate may be that you lose weight, or a side effect of cutting back on alcohol may be some extra money in your pocket, these are not the primary reasons for giving them up. Rather, we fast so that as we become aware of what it is that we are giving up (through our continued desires for it), we are
reminded to rely on God and seek Him more in prayer and worship.
This leads me to my final point: fasting is something that should be done in secret. As we saw yesterday in Matthew 6 it was the “hypocrites” who Jesus said wanted everybody to know that they were fasting. These were the people who were doing it for the position or acclaim that would be given to them by people who, due to their dishevelled outward appearance, couldn’t fail but realise just how much these “hypocrites” were ‘giving up’ in their pursuit of God. But Jesus’ teaching makes it clear that the reward is for the person whose decision to fast is taken before God alone, and then – seen only by the unseen Father, commits the fast to Him.
So maybe you’re thinking about giving something up, and maybe you’re not. But I leave us with two questions: First, do we need to fast this Lent time? Absolutely not. Second, might we benefit from it if we do? Absolutely.
And so if and when we do, may God help us to pick the right thing, from the right motive: and here’s praying that it helps us to grow closer to Him.
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