In his book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Donald S. Whitney defines Christian fasting as “a believer’s voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual purposes.” Fasting can be hard to understand, because obviously food and drink are necessary to the human body and are not bad things, so why then do Christians willingly do without? In Matthew 16:23-24, Jesus exclaims, “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns … Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Christians realize that sometimes one can get caught up in their human desires and forget about what else God has in store for them. In Matthew 4:4, while Jesus is being tempted by the devil in the wilderness after forty days and forty nights of fasting, He says, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” This is the heart and the reasoning behind Christian fasting. Christians recognize that food and drink are good gifts from God and give great thanks for that, however, as stated in The Didahce, Christians also understand that God has “graciously given spiritual food and drink and life eternal (10.3). Therefore, by fasting Christians are able to focus solely on this spiritual food and drink that aids in spiritual processes. Fasting is pleasing to God, but only when done properly and intently. Matthew 6:16-18 explains that Christians are not to “look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting” but rather to “put oil on your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen.” Fasting is between the Christian and God; it is not meant to be a public, proud act, instead one should be humble and only be seeking to please God and his own soul. Horatio G. Spafford wrote a hymn that says, “It Is Well With My Soul,” this is important to fasting because as one fasts they need to not be angry and upset, but to let it be well with their soul as they make this sacrifice for God. Additionally, in a parable called Shepherd of Hermas, a shepherd tells a man that in order to accomplish a great fast acceptable to God he must “do no wickedness in thy life, and serve the Lord with a pure heart; observe His commandments and walk in His ordinances, and let no evil desire rise up in thy heart; but believe God” (1.5). The shepherd then continues to say that after fulfilling all of this, one must give anything they would have eaten that day “to a widow, or an orphan, or to one in want” (3.7). Fasting, then, is so much more than simply abstaining from food, but also taking what one is giving up and offering it to others, as well as avoiding all evils and following all of the commandments God has set.
With that being said, fasting must be important in my own spiritual formation. While on the World Race, I have noticed that is has become easy to feel entitled to food like in the United States. At times I have found myself frustrated that I cannot simply hop in my car and drive to Chick-Fil-A and get exactly what I want to eat, exactly when I want it. In these moments, I realize that I am only seeing my human concerns and remember that I am called to deny myself and pick up my cross and follow Jesus. I challenge myself to instead focus on all of the spiritual food I am being blessed with here. While I may not have Chick-Fil-A, I do have 43 friends who love God the way I do. I do have 6 brilliant leaders to guide me and call me higher in my faith. I do have a Bible full of thousands of pages of the Word of God. I do have tremendous opportunity every single day to spread the love and good news of Jesus. Over my trip, I hope to see these spiritual foods become the thing I instantly long for and hardly miss Chick-Fil-A or any other food, because I will be over filled by spiritual food.
