The fourth thing I want to suggest is Fasting. Like meditation, fasting often gets a bad press amongst Christians, indeed many Christians never fast. And yet the Bible speaks much about it, and certainly Jesus Himself expected His disciples to fast when He said to them:
Mat_6:16-17 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,…
Mat 9:15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
So where should fasting fit in the life of a Christian? Like most things there is a right and a wrong way to do it. The wrong way is in any sense of tradition. Immediately after Mat 9:15 (above) Jesus continued..
Mat 9:16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.
Mat 9:17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
He is speaking against fasting or any other practice being done in the way the Pharisees had historically done it – simply as a tradition, believing it to show them as ‘good’ and ‘holy’ and ‘righteous’ before others. They would make a great show of their fasting so that it was evident to all that they were undergoing severe self-discipline!
No, fasting is to be done without show. It is not for others to see and admire, but to be done between you and God alone. And it is clear from the Bible that it has a lot to do with what we are going through at the time. It is often linked with repenting over sin, or when pleading with the Lord over something very important, as hopefully we are all doing in these days (try searching the Bible on “fasting” to see what I mean).
So what is the point of fasting? It is to show God how serious we are about whatever it is that we are pleading with Him for – whether it is repenting sin, or crying out for help. In effect the person is saying to God “Look Father, I am not only speaking words to You, but let me show You how important this is to me. I will deprive myself of the food that I need and enjoy. I want You to see that this means more to me than food itself!”
This is why I raise the subject at this time: fasting is a practical way of showing God how serious we are, how sincere we are, how desperate for His help we are, how focused on Him above all other necessities of life we are. Jesus knew what it was to fast, He chose to fast under the leading of Holy Spirit for 40 days and nights. How important is it to you?
If you’ve never considered Christian fasting (and I don’t mean slimming – that is something totally different!) I can recommend doing a search under “John Piper fasting” in Google. He has written a really good book on fasting (which I have a copy of if anyone is interested) and has on his site a number of helpful blog entries and articles including one by David Mathis entitled “Fasting for beginners”.
Oh that we might rediscover this precious Christian practice!