"When
you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their
faces to show men they are fasting. I
tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast .
. . wash your face, so that it will
not be obvious . .
. that you are fasting . . . and
your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you”
Matthew 6:16-18 (NIV)
Matthew 6:16-18 (NIV)
Fasting
is a spiritual practice which teaches us over time that what we really need is
God. In relinquishing
my claim to fulfill some immediate desire, I
am proclaiming that my true need is God.
It’s interesting that fasting is rarely practiced by Protestants, yet
those who do fast as a regular aspect of their spiritual disciplines find
themselves “coming alive” in ways nothing else was able to accomplish.
I
think it comes down to a very simple thing.
The prayer, “Lord please give me today what I need”
(line 5 of Jesus’ sermon on the Mount) is a prayer of trust that every
day I ask this I get exactly what God deems necessary for me to flourish in His
good world.
Perhaps
it comes down to one other simple thing as well.
Fasting in the Bible is not an effort to give up something in order to
get something. That would like
trying to earn Grace, an oxymoron. Rather,
in the Bible fasting is a response, usually
to a crisis. It is a way of entering into the crises, the pain of it.
As God enters into the pain of our world, we can fast (from food - I’m
not actually sure that fasting from electronics counts) as our way of being
fully present with others in the time of need.
In doing so we are with the other as God is with us.
It is in the with that God’s power is transferred.
In this way fasting, like prayer, obedience, trust, belief, faith,
worship and all the rest of Christianity, is profoundly relational.
“Lord, give me the grace I need to
practice simply being in your presence without any other agenda getting in the
way. And Lord, show me
if you want me to fast. Then, if you
indeed lead me to to do so, give me the will to do it in whatever way you think
will grow my into a deeper love of You and others.
I love you Lord, Amen”
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