Fasting

"Fasting helps to discipline the self-indulgent and slothful will which is so reluctant to serve the Lord, and it helps to humiliate and chasten the flesh.  By practicing abstemiousness we show the world how different the Christian life is from its own.  If there is not element of asceticism in our lives, if we give free rein to the desires of the flesh, we shall find it hard to train for the service of Christ.  When the flesh is satisfied it is hard to pray with cheerfulness or to devote oneself to a life of service which calls for much self-renunciation." -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship.

First a little vocabulary.   The word, asceticism:  (from the Greek: ἄσκησις, áskēsis, "exercise" or "training") describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various worldly pleasures, often with the aim of pursuing religious and spirital goals.  Secondly, abstemiousness means eating and drinking in moderation; or characterized by abstinence or moderation.

I underlined the part that really struck me.  When we are satisfied with the things of this world we are of little use to Chirst.  We are to constantly be repenting and turning from the things of this world to seek Christ.  Paul counted everything he had and knew as a loss when compared to Christ.  Paul tells us in Philippians 3:6-8, "⁶ as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law,blameless. ⁷ But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.  We also see in Matthew 13, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Before I get too far into this, I want to point out a couple of facts that I learn from Voddie Baucham in his book, Family Shepherds.   First, the Gospel requires from us only Faith and Repentance.  This was the message Jesus and the Apostles.  Secondly, the Gospel produces in us Obedience to the commands of Christ found in His Word.  It is important for us to understand this difference.  We cannot require those who have yet to believe (faith) and repent of their sins to be obedient to the Word of God.  It is not possible for them to do so (Ephesians 2:1-3, Romans 8:8).  This is important to understand because to ask someone to do something to “please” God before they have been regenerated by Him is pointless.  Because any good work that we can do is nothing but filth to Him.

So, why do I talk about all this when addressing fasting?  Mainly because of the misunderstandings about fasting.  We should always see the value of Christ and pray that he give us the strength to do what he commands.  But, we are weak and need to bring our bodies into submission unto Christ and, this is hard to do this when we are comfortable here on Earth.  Fasting is not about sacrificing some pleasure from our life in order to please God with it.  In fact, the Bible says that God desires our obedience, not sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22).  Fasting is about breaking the bonds of this world to be wholly reliant on Christ for all things.