It is the season of lent, and most traditional Christians are called to a closer communion with God by prayer, fasting and alms-giving. However, we are also encouraged to embark on personal fasts outside of lent as our circumstances allow, in petition for ourselves and our loved ones, and to seek Godly direction as and when necessary.
Over the years, my experience has been that my own personal fasting does not always result in a visible change in a situation but it calms my anxiety about the situation. I say visible, because God is always at work anyway, even if I do not see it perhaps because it is not what I was expecting to see. Having said that, I have no illusions about the spiritual benefits of this exercise, I must decrease so He can increase.
But I am going to confess……there is another reason why I love fasting. The accelerated weight loss that occurs makes me feel good about myself for a few days before the weight creeps back on, plus some extra for good measure! Although I avoid getting on the scale while I am fasting, it is the first thing I do the day after ending the fast. This vain benefit usually leaves me with a guilty feeling as I begin to question my own motive for embarking on the fast.
For the personal fasts, I begin to wonder if I was truly led to fast by the Spirit or if I just jumped at the opportunity because of the vain side-effect. From experience, I now see that if I embarked on that fast without the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I am not able to follow through religiously to my prescribed end.
This realization has led me to consider changes to the way I fast. If fasting has become too convenient for me, or if I am not crazy about food at any time because I am on a perpetual diet, then something has to give because cutting down on food is no longer a sacrifice. At first, I thought increasing my alms-giving would make me feel better, but perhaps I was not giving sacrificially because it still felt too easy. I studied Isaiah 58 to see what else I could do.
Setting the captives free? check. I had read somewhere that the captives in our day could be interpreted as those whose alleged offences we hold in our minds and are not able to forgive easily. So I make a note to call that bickering relative and reach out to an unfriendly associate. I release them from the mental cage I had locked them into. Of course, in so doing, I also free myself of the burden. A win-win situation. Yet I am not satisfied…..
It is only in the recent past that I have come to understand why this is so – I am still connected to the world. We are living in a world of technological addictions. An addiction we bring upon ourselves and a situation that most of us still live in denial about. It is being written about in reputable publications. Scientists are studying it continually. But we tell ourselves we can control it and rant about our kids on their PS4s.
What the world is recognizing as an addiction, we who are called, recognize by another term – Idols. We would do well to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us which of these technological dimensions have become idols in our lives. I have come to terms with my own shortcoming in this regard (political news) and now find it difficult to judge another person struggling with more obvious or known addictions, especially substance abuse. (As if I had any right to do so in the first place!). I am constantly asking the Holy Spirit for Grace to overcome mine.
Now on the days I fast, it is more about fasting from technology than from food. I try to avoid news on the television or internet until evening, sometimes for a couple of days. I set specific times for checking emails. I resist the urge to forward that hilarious whatsapp message to my contacts. Sometimes I fall back from my own rules but with the help of the Holy Spirit, I pick myself up. As practically as I possibly can, I struggle to keep God as my sole focus, to stay in the Word and lift my voice in worship.
May our spiritual eyes be opened to see which of the many temporal blessings and opportunities we have received from God have caused us to diminish the time we spend in His presence. As we struggle to keep eternity in perspective in all that we do, I am reminded of that poignant quote from C.S. Lewis – “Don’t let your happiness depend on something you may lose”.
” Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please…….You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high…..Is not the kind of fasting I have chosen to…..untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free?….Isaiah 58: 3-6 (paraphrased)
Hilltop Thoughts, Valley Strengths 