FOOD FOR THOUGHT
(03/22/2009)
Real
Fasting
David
Carter
Lent
is a great season because, truthfully, we are a people who need to fast;
however, we need to fast in the right ways. Too often we look at
fasting as simple denial of some need or desire. Maybe we look at
fasting as a way to prove our dedication to God or we believe fasting
will force God to listen to us (as if that was possible).
Fasting is a practice of denying ourselves something with the intention
of devoting that time normally spent eating/watching TV/whatever we'd
given up to God. When hunger pangs hit us, we are reminded to pray.
When we are uncomfortable in our fast, we are to turn to God. Yet
even greater than that, God tells us in Isaiah, “Is it (fasting) only
for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is this
not the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice,
and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every
yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide
the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe him…?”
Fasting turns us to God and the things of God. True fasting prompts
us to care about the things God cares about and do something about.
Let's truly fast during this season of Lent.
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