Moving from Gluttony to Fasting

Jesus talks in Matthew chapter 6 about giving, praying and fasting – and how these things are not to be done to be noticed; they are to be done with our eyes focused on God; we are to do these things to please Him not other people. The main point of Matthew 6 is all about seeking God and His pleasure rather than our own; all about pleasing God rather than ourselves or our ego. Matthew 6:1 begins with he word "beware". Beware of what? The danger zone. This is a warning sign. Danger – don’t go there. Caution. It is so easy to fall into the trap of doing things to be recognized as the one who did them; or for the applause of people.

The tricky part about all of this is that while giving and praying are pretty simple concepts – we find ourselves scratching our heads when it comes to fasting. At least I do. I know what it is but I don;t want to do it. Too tough. I love food to much.

What is Fasting? It is doing without food for spiritual reasons. It is an external discipline that reveals internal things; matters of the heart not the body. Fasting is not the most popular thing around these days. Why don’t we hear much about it? How come we don’t talk much about it? Maybe because people are confused about it so they don’t know how to deal with it. Maybe it is because in these days of foodies; food junkies and Food Network shows; abundant choices as well as multitudes of food abound – all you can eat, fast food, take-out, quick and easy; stockpiles and the like. So let me just say it simply - we are just gluttons. [BTW I love food too much at times. Doesn’t matter if you are skinny or fat, old or young, short or tall; high metabolism or slow – you can be a glutton. Sometimes the people who look they must be aren’t; it’s the ones you’d never suspect. We hide our gluttony so well. It’s three when one will do; it’s another when 1 was sufficient; it is the extra whatever when a regular portion would have done.]

No wonder we don’t like to fast. Who wants to go without food? And then maybe, just maybe the reason we don;t hear much about fasting is because people are obeying Jesus – they aren’t telling people they are fasting, they are keeping it to themselves. That would be beautiful, and refreshing. Maybe that is what is going on. Maybe we are confused, not sure what it is and what to do; maybe we are convicted of a lack of desire to seek God more than food; or maybe we are being obedient. Whatever the case it is probably one of the three.

What does God say about fasting? Actually not a lot in terms of how to actually do it. It is a simple thing – always attached to another action such as praying or repenting or mourning over sin. There was only one fast required in the Old Testament. The fast on the Day of Atonement; once a year every man, woman, boy and girl would fast. But that was done away with when Jesus, the atoning sacrifice came for sin. You see references throughout the OT to fasting; references sprinkled through the NT on fasting, but nowhere do you see it commanded or any instructions on how to do it. Jesus assumes His disciples will fast. That is why it is so funny to me to read and hear people explaining how to do it: how to plan a fast, how to re-acclimate yourself to food once you get done. It is almost like they are doctors or health professionals giving advice to a marathoner on how to get your body ready for the grueling effects of a marathon. While we need to take care of our bodies and be good stewards of what God has entrusted to us, this seems a little excessive when the purpose of fasting is to look to God for sustenance, sufficiency and significance. I think He can take care of the details if we just seek Him with our whole hearts. Hasn’t He promised us as much? (Matt. 6:25-34)

Why would we want to fast? Does anyone really want to fast or do they do it because they want God more? They are desperate for Him and so they do without their food to focus more intently on His provision; His sustaining presence, His simple guidance, His all-sufficient grace for even me. One thing we know for sure fasting is something that cannot be done for too long without doing real harm, to oneself. Abstain from eating for enough time and it will kill you. But doing without food for a while won’t. Sometimes it is so easy to get so wrapped up in ourselves – what we want, what we are doing or going to do, what someone did to us, how everything relates or revolves around us. We are naturally self-centered. But when we fast we cannot be like that. If we come to God in humility, asking for guidance, with an attitude of worship – things begin to change.

What does fasting do? What is its purpose? What is its reward? This we can know with certainty. Fasting drives us to find our sustenance, significance and sufficiency on God alone. Not in food, not is our ability to gather, buy, prepare or provide food. Fasting strips us bare of all self-sufficiency. It drives us to our knees. We pray when we fast because we cannot do anything else.

Let us cry out to God from the depths of our hearts.
We need You Lord! We confess we don’t have life wired.
We need Your guidance! We don’t know what to do or where to go.
We love You! Contrary to popular opinion we are not You! You alone are God.

When we are praising we are not sinning. When we are sinning we cannot be praising. When we are seeking God’s pleasure we are not seeking our own. 2 Cor. 5:9 we ought not to please ourselves but God who raises the dead.

What if Adam and Eve had fasted instead of eating the forbidden fruit? What if they had obeyed God? What if they had looked to Him for their sustenance; their significance; looked to Him to be their sufficiency instead of meandering down the wayward path that led to death; running headlong through the gate that leads to destruction? What if? If only. If only all our what ifs and if only would work out! Then life would be what? Heavenly. Someday for the redeemed. Someday. For now we slug it out down here and eat mass quantities of food and eat ourselves sick. And sometimes, maybe every once in a while we sense our need for God so keenly that we do without our daily nourishment for God to be our primary nourishment. What did Jesus say? “I have food to eat that you know nothing about” (John 4:32) and they thought someone had snuck some food to Jesus while they were out buying some. When God is our treasure we forsake our self-sufficient ways and look to the all-sufficient Christ to be our guide. We go to Him who fills all in all and find our true significance. We will not care if we are hungry – we will feel the pain and it will be as if there were no pain at all, the glory of God will be so great among us. In our midst and all around. In Christ alone our hope is found.