Fasting.

Here in America we spent more than thirty billion dollars last year on diet products.  That is more then we spent on books, and more than the gross domestic product (GDP) of at least fifty nations in the WORLD.  It seems that the only diet most of us need is a diet of discipline.  But our culture does not want discipline.  We want someone to get on the infomercial and tell us that if we take this little pill twice a day, every day, we can eat whatever we want, whenever we want.  We want someone to tell us if we buy this piece of exercise equipment and work out for twenty minutes twice a week we will look like a supermodel.  Bottom line is we want someone to tell us, “You can be healthy and happy without discipline.” 

This is where a divide occurs.

The culture says: “You can be happy, successful, and have whatever it is you want – all without discipline!”

The church says: “You cannot be happy without discipline, in fact, discipline is the road to happiness!”

Both promise happiness, both could not be more opposed to each other.

Think about this question.  What is the culture’s vision for the human person?  The silence is deafening.  The culture doesn’t have a vision for the human person.  So what drives todays culture?  Consumption. 

The body is constantly struggling against you.  It cries out, “I’m hungry,” so you eat.  Then it cries, “I’m thirsty,” so you drink.  Then at the end of the day it cries, “I’m tired,” so you sleep.  Fasting is one of the ingenious practices that teaches us to ensure the body does not become our master.  

There is a war taking place within you.  It is the constant battle between your body and your soul.  At every moment of the day, both are vying for dominance.  If you wish to have a rich and abundant experience of life, you must allow your soul to soar.  But in order to do that, you first need to tame and train the body.  You cannot win this war once a week, once a year, or even once a day.  From moment to moment, our desires need to be harnessed.  Fasting should be apart of our everyday spirituality.

 For example ,suppose you have a craving for a Coke, but you have cranberry juice or a glass of water instead.  It is the smallest thing.  Nobody notices.  And yet, by this simple action you say NO to the cravings of the BODY that seek to control you and assert the dominance of the soul.  Never leave a meal table without practicing some form of fasting.  It is these tiny acts that harness the body as a worthy servant and strengthen the will for the greater moments of decision that are a part of each of our lives.  Beyond these small moments of fasting, we should each seek more intense encounters with fasting and abstinence if we are serious about the spiritual life.  It will help us turn away from sin and turn back to God.  Fasting helps us to turn our backs on the-lesser-version-of-ourselves and embrace the-best-version-of-ourselves. 

Perhaps you can fast one day a week – two small meals, one full meal, and nothing to eat between meals.  Perhaps you can fast one day a week on bread and water.  Or maybe all you can manage at this time is to give up [caffeine] for a day.  Or maybe you can’t do a whole day, maybe for just two hours.  Or maybe you can go without your cell phone or facebook for a day.  Personalize your fasting.  You know what it is that has a grip on you, or ask God to show you.  Maybe ask a friend if they notice anything your constantly doing or consumed with, and then try and fast from that. 

Try not to be prideful about it.  Come humbly to God in prayer, and there in the time of silence, decide upon some regular practice of fasting and abstinence.  Then from time to time, review this practice.  If you feel called to add to it, add to it.  Remember though that people with health risks, or minors, are encouraged to pick something besides food to fast from.  You can also choose to fast from things like judging others, criticizing, cursing, or complaining, to name just a few.  In our generation, technology forms might be a good choice.  Another powerful form of fasting is sitting still and in the silence for, say twenty minutes.  Try this.  It is much harder than you think.

Questions to ask & reflect on:

1.     What do you think of when you think of fasting?

2.     Name a few things that could be “idols” in your life, could you fast from them?

3.     Is fasting a “radical” behavior?