We hunger to experience more of God’s presence.
Spiritual Disciplines are tools which help us grow more like Jesus. They help us to do things by indirect effort what we are unable to do by direct effort. To fast is to purposefully not eat. When we fast we focus our attention on God rather than our belly’s.
Fasting is not “Dieting for Jesus!”
You don’t get more points if you fast. In our culture choosing to go without food, except to lose weight, is nonsense. Eating is so important. Eating lots is actively encouraged. So much stuff. So much food. So much choice.
Any discipline, helps to remove things from life that interfere with us experiencing God’s presence…
In Matthew 6:16-18, Jesus told his followers, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
When we fast… we are hungry, now. Fasting sets us in the present. In the here and now.
When we fast… we focus our attention on God. Every time our stomach rumbles for food. We can take that as a prompt to pray, as a physical indicator of our spiritual hunger. Our hunger for God is awakened.
When we fast… we feast on the greatness of God
When we fast… we remove ourselves from the centre of everything. Instead of thinking that the world revolves around us. Instead of behaving like a spoilt toddler, always wanting our way and not thinking about the needs of others. We put God in the centre, instead of putting ourselves in the centre.
When we fast… we are saying that it is God who sustains us not food. We are saying to God you are more important to me than anything else.One of our problems is that we are so easily satisfied with junk. We are so stuffed with small things we have little appetite for God.
Today why not decide to fast from something? Food. Alcohol. Coffee. Tea. TV. A Computer game.
Make room for God’s Presence. The reward of fasting is the Very Presence of God.
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