Waiting for Our Groom: Are We Willing to Fast?

I want to start by promoting my friend Dylan Watts' new blog, The Gospel Displayed in Sanctification. He is just starting out his journey into the bloggersphere, so please show him a little love and check out his stuff! :) Now, to my post...

We're currently in Lent, which is the time of year when my Catholic brethren give up something to focus on God. The idea of giving up something to focus on God is considered fasting.

Fasting is something that rarely gets discussed. What's the point? Should we fast? Is fasting a Catholic thing? Am I allowed to eat during a fast? What does Jesus say about fasting?

All of these questions are good questions to ask. I am a Southern Baptist by label, and fasting is something my denomination rarely discusses or practices. So, what does the bible say about fasting? Let's take a look.

One of the passages that is central to understanding fasting is found in Matthew 7. I wrote a post on this passage last year, entitled To Fast or Not to Fast, That Is the Question. I would ask for you to read that post after reading this one, as they are really companions for each other. It discusses the heart behind fasting, which is one of humility and God-focusedness. That's not my goal today.

Today, my goal is to simply show that fasting is not a bad thing for Christians to do, and, in fact, is very helpful. Check out Mark 2:18-20 with me.

"Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, 'How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?'
Jesus answered, 'How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.'" -Mark 2:18-20, NIV

This passage alone shows that we, as the Church today, are not wrong to fast in a biblical manner (which is outlined in my other post). In v. 18, we see that Jesus' disciples were not fasting, while other "religious types" were. So they asked Jesus what was up with this apparent lack of striving for God.

At first glance, it appears that Jesus is supporting the abolition of fasting. Yet, keep reading on down to verse 20...

Here, Jesus discusses that "the bridegroom will be taken away, and on that day they will fast." Guess what: Jesus is not physically on this earth right now. Jesus, our Bridegroom, has ascended to the throne of God. The day has come for our fast.

Allow me to clarify something, though: God is not gone from this earth. His presence is all around us, and in the believer. I do not want you to walk away thinking that we are without our God; that is untrue. In Mark 2, Jesus' disciples literally had Him in the flesh, there beside them. They had no need to fast at all, and because of that, they didn't. We don't HAVE to fast, either; if you never fast, you are not doomed to Hell. We have the Spirit of God within us; thus, we do not have to fast. We are saved by grace, not works, and our salvation rests only in the work of Christ.

However, we are in a waiting period. We are in between the human life of Christ and His return. We cannot speak with Him in the same way that the disciples did then, and we will not have that level of closeness with Him until He returns. So, allow me give a scenario that I hope will show the benefit of fasting while we wait for His return.

Let's say a couple is dating. The man gets down on one knee and proposes. Do you think they are abstaining from enjoying life at that moment? No! They'd by excited! He is physically with her, and she will enjoy every moment with him!

But let's say that this man is deployed to Iraq before they are married. What do you think the future bride will do? Is she going to continue her life as if he were here? Of course not. She will call him, Skype him, email him... You get what I am saying. She will abstain from chasing after other guys, because she already has her man. She will even be willing to wake/remain up at crazy hours of the day to talk with him. She will sacrifice sleep, food or other relationships in order to grow closer with him, even in his time away.

We, Church, are currently that future bride. Our Groom has gone for a time, and we are now waiting for His return. We should desire to grow closer with Him at all costs, no matter what. There may come times when separation from food or sleep or other things will allow us to communicate with and draw nearer to our Groom, and we shouldn't be afraid to embrace that. This fasting with the desire of growing closer to God is a good thing.

Our Groom is on His way back to us; are we willing to do whatever it takes to be as close as possible with Him while we wait?

Thanks to Mr. Scott Fertig, who challenged me to go deeper with this post and better communicate my thoughts. If you, reader, ever find what I say to be erroneous or confusing, please let me know. I will be happy to clarify or study further.

A Letter to You, Self-Centered Christian

Dear Christian,

Should you go to church? Should you be in a bible study (or two or three)? Should you give money, or fast, or put the Jesus fish on your car? It depends. Are you going through the motions, doing it all for yourself?

In Zechariah 7, the prophet Zechariah is talking to God about Israel, wanting to know if a certain period of fasting should continue. God's response was as follows:

"Say to all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?" -Zechariah 7:5-6, ESV

God ain't interested in us just doing stuff for our benefit. Sure, He wants us to find pleasure in Him. If the point, however, behind your prayers and church attendance and tithes is getting a warm and fuzzy feeling, a pat on the back or a check off on your cultural Churchianity checklist, then don't bother. Don't go through the motions just to benefit you; instead, your Christian walk should be God-focused.

When you pray, is God the center of your prayers? If not, make Him the center.

When you go to church, is it to truly worship the holy Lord of all, or is it to give you a "Jesus energy boost," like chugging an energy drink of religion to get you through the week?

We must keep our focus on Him, not on ourselves. He's Creator; we're creation. He's master; we're slaves.

As my friend Won Kwak posted on Twitter yesterday (as a quote from another person),

"To me, Christianity was more about being a good person and a means to seek comfort... I knew a lot about Jesus, but I didn't know Jesus."

We must know the Lord, not just know about Him in an effort to seek comfort. We must make the goal to know and praise Him. All of the comfort and behavior change will naturally flow out from that.

Sincerely,
A Self-centered, Wanting-to-know-God-more Disciple

To Fast or Not to Fast, That is the Question

I'm gunna break from the Names of God series for a post, just to talk about something that needs discussing. The topic: fasting.

In the Church, especially in the Protestant Bible Belt of the southeastern United States (where I reside), spiritual disciplines get a lot of attention. By spiritual disciplines, I mean actions we do that bring us closer to God. Reading your Bible is one that gets an incredible amount of exposure; memorizing Scripture also gets a lot of attention. Prayer has a spotlight on it; giving money to God gets preached all over the world every weekend. None of that is bad; in fact, I'd argue that all four are crucial to the Christian journey, and if you are not practicing those disciplines, you should be. Yet, how often do you hear about someone fasting? Why does fasting get left out? Is it less spiritual or necessary to the pilgrimage of the Christ follower? Prayer was almost always accompanied by fasting in the New Testament. The early Church fasted all the time. Therefore, I'd argue its importance. Let's look at a passage and see what the Bible says on fasting.


"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. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." -Matthew 7:16-18, ESV

This passage is tucked into Jesus's famous "Sermon on the Mount," right between the Lord's Prayer and the passage that talks about how you can't serve money and God. How is this little section on fasting so overlooked if it sits between two of the most famous passages in the Gospels?

This little section is titled in most Bibles as "How to Fast." Handy, right? So, how do we fast? Primarily, with humility and sincerity. Jesus says here not how long you should fast, or what you should fast from (which doesn't have to be food; it can honestly be almost anything). Instead, He is far more focused on your heart. Are you making a show of your fasting? Are you fasting to look "holy?" If so, quit fasting. Now.

However, if you have wondered whether or not to fast (especially at this time of year, since we are currently in Lent, the Catholic practice of fasting 40 days before Easter), I would encourage you to search your heart. Why would you be fasting? If the goal is to grow in your relationship with God, or hear Him speak on something in your life, etc., I'd say go for it. If you can keep the focus on Him and not on you, you're golden. Which, honestly, can go for anything; if you read your Bible, pray or give money to make yourself look good, stop. God doesn't want those prayers or that money. He has no interest in your selfish desires, much less using Him to reach them.

Where is your focus? Are you doing everything for God's glory, or for your own?