Matthew 6:16-18
Fasting is the third spiritual discipline Jesus teaches His
disciples to practice in a private manner.
Giving and prayer were the other two.
Fasting is the practice of giving up eating in order to be able to
dedicate more time on concentrated prayer.
Food is not the only thing that can be given up in a fast but it is the
most common. Paul also mentions couples
who choose to refrain from sexual relationships for a defined period of time in
order to dedicate themselves to prayer.
The reason that Jesus gives for fasting in private is to qualify for
rewards from God. Eternal rewards should
be a constant source of motivation in our lives. Even though we don’t know a lot about the
function and impact of eternal rewards, they ought to motivate us. Based on what we know about God and the emphasis
that Jesus placed on rewards; we should all be very excited by the prospect of
being rewarded. Rewards should encourage
us to practice the discipline of fasting in a biblical manner.
GLOOMY FASTING: Like most spiritual disciplines, fasting can
become a source of spiritual pride. The
Pharisees in the days of Jesus started to use fasting as a means of drawing
attention to themselves and impress others with their “spirituality.” Jesus was unimpressed. When they were fasting, the would put on a
gloomy face, not bathe, wear old clothing, mess up their hair and try to look
sickly. Their desired response was for
people to ask them what was wrong so they could inform and impress them with
the answer that they were fasting. Jesus
taught that this recognition from others was the only reward that would ever be
associated with this type of fasting.
The reason for fasting should always be the glory of God and the growth
of His kingdom. Fasting that is made
visible to others is only self-serving and will cause others to be repulsed by
our attitude and therefore have no interest in the kingdom of God we claim to
be promoting. There is no place for
“gloomy fasting” in the life of a true follower of Jesus.
GROOMED FASTING: Jesus teaches His disciples to wash their
face, anoint themselves and practice good and normal personal grooming habits
when they fast. The goal of doing this
is so nobody would discover they were fasting.
Normally we try to keep our sins a secret and our virtues public. Jesus teaches us just the opposite. Sins proliferate and reproduce when they are
kept secret but become much less powerful when we expose them and seek for help
from the body of Christ. Jesus wants us
to fast in such a way that men will not notice our fasting. It may be necessary to let some immediate
family members know we are fasting in order to avoid needless meal
preparation. But the general rule is to
not talk about our fasting or try to make it visible to others that we are
fasting. Secret fasting is seen and
appreciated by God and will be rewarded.
Those rewards can range from answered prayers to eternal rewards granted
in heaven. Fasting, like giving and
prayer, should be a regular discipline we practice as believers and like giving
and prayer should be practiced in private.
APPLICATION: Make fasting a regular part of our spiritual
discipline. Use times of fasting to
intensify and increase our times of prayer.
Don’t talk about or make the fact that we are fasting obvious to others. Use God’s promised rewards as a motivation
for fasting, praying and giving.
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